By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Meadow View Elementary School first-grader Ava Hoffmaster struggled to lift her loaded green shopping basket onto the checkout table at the school’s Santa shop on Dec. 11.

“These bags are too small, I’m going to need to put all your stuff into two bags,” MVES PTO Vice President Karen South said with a laugh as she unloaded Hoffmaster’s bevy of gifts.

Before bringing her bounty to the checkout desk, Hoffmaster spent about 15 minutes gathering gifts ranging from books to Auburn University car tags in the Santa shop, checking off family members from her Christmas list one by one.

Each item in the shop was tagged with a colored dot representing different prices ranging from $1-$6. After South totaled up Hoffmaster’s gifts, she discovered the price exactly matched Hoffmaster’s cash on hand.

“Perfect, you did a wonderful job,” South said, eliciting a smile from Hoffmaster as she toted her two bags of gifts to the other side of the room.

A few minutes later, first-grader Stone Smith explained his rationale behind one of his gifts.

“I got this one because she likes to play the drums,” Smith excitedly said of his sister as South bagged a translucent recorder instrument.

“When we get older, it’s more fun to get gifts for others, isn’t it?” South said as Smith nodded and walked to join his classmates.

From Dec. 9-13, a room on the northern end of the MVES building was a steady stream of activity as hundreds of children shopped for their loved ones.

All proceeds from the shop will help fund teacher grants in early 2014. In January, teachers will be able to submit grant applications to the PTO, and the PTO’s board will distribute funds based on need, South said.

This year’s MVES Santa shop saw loads of success, as the PTO had to restock its inventory nearly every night to keep up with demand. The year’s hot items were small plastic helicopters, followed closely by Auburn- and Alabama-themed items and fleece throws.