On Sunday ACU hosted its first Mingle & Jingle, an event designed to celebrate the Christmas season and bring the Abilene community together.

Tamara Long, director of Admissions, said that Mingle & Jingle was a collaboration across the entire campus.

“Student life and staff came together wanting to do something that drew together ACU and the Abilene community,” Long said.

The event began at 7 p.m. with a visit from Santa at Jacob’s Dream. Families from the community and even some ACU students were able to take pictures and tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas.

After visiting Santa attendees could walk over to the lawn in front of the Bible building and watch Dr. Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas, which was projected onto a large inflatable screen. Hot chocolate was also available.

The event also benefited Love & Care Ministries and those in attendance were able to donate unwrapped toys to the ministry.

A large crowd gathered to watch the movie and then moved toward the stage when President Schubert spoke a few words of welcome and introduced Aaron Watson.

Aaron Watson, an ACU alumni and country music artist, played a variety of music for the concert. Along with his own hits like “Barbwire Halo,” he played several fan requests and invited children onstage to sing Christmas carols with him.

Although fans were hesitant at first, after an invitation from Watson, they surrounded the stage, and some couple even broke into spontaneous two stepping.

For the finale Watson sang a Christmas carol with ACU students.

Watson said he was, “honored to be a part of the event.”

A large crowd assembled for the concert but the event was extra special for the prospective students who had arrived for a Wildcat Preview Day and were able to experience a unique ACU event.

The event marked the official lighting of the Christmas lights around campus and kicked off the Christmas season.

Mingle & Jingle was a fun event and will hopefully become an ACU tradition for years to come.