Too Soon for Santa?

By DAN STAMM

Updated 5:28 AM EDT, Tue, Nov 10, 2009

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You better watch out: Santa Claus is already in town.

The Halloween decorations were barely taken down before Ol’ St. Nick greeted shoppers at the Oxford Valley Mall.

Forget about the day after Thanksgiving, the 2009 Christmas shopping season unofficially started this year on the first Saturday of November with a Santa welcoming parade in Langhorne, Pa.

That’s right. The ever-sooner arrival of the holiday shopping season already came to the area as Kris Kringle took time out of his busy toy-making schedule to meet with some of the little boys and girls to whom he will be bringing Christmas joy to on Dec. 25.

"Even though it seems early there is a demand," said mall spokesman Patty Gillett.

Demand for what? Photos. Parents want to get their children in a photo with Santa ASAP so that they can get holiday photos ready to share with friends and family, said Gillett.

Bringing out Santa a few weeks before Black Friday could help bring a few more children and their purchasing parents into the mall to meet Santa and spend some dough.

Trying to kick-start the holiday shopping season made sense. Times are tough and this holiday season it could be even tougher on retailers after October sales came in below expectations, according to Reuters.

Oxford Valley wasn’t alone as Santa also arrived this past weekend at the Deptford and Montgomery Malls.

But, many other Meccas to consumerism like the Cherry Hill Mall, King of Prussia Mall, Plymouth Meeting Mall, Cherry Hill Mall and Neshaminy Mall won’t welcome Santa to town until this weekend. And, he won’t show up at the Gallery Mall until Nov. 24.

It’s great that Santa was bringing joy to children. But, with 48 shopping days left until Christmas, was it too soon for Santa to be coming to town?

First Published: Nov 9, 2009 3:35 PM EDT

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OLDEST | RECENT

{"totSize":7,"payload_type":"json","status":"1","results":[{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"396494_69591107","adminTags":null,"views":815,"createdBy":12190082,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Too Soon for Santa?","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2703177,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"9 Nov 2009 20:58:33 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":7,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"fb_537045603","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1216126","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"It's sad but I'm not surprised one bit. I worked at Oxford Valley Mall for a short time in 2006 and I would go there a lot as a teenager and it always seemed that they were skipping Thanksgiving and going right to Christmas. "},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"396494_69591107","adminTags":null,"views":815,"createdBy":7918844,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Too Soon for Santa?","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2703177,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"9 Nov 2009 21:06:38 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":7,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"anonymous_user","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1216200","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"I love christmas and it can never be too early for me!"},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"396494_69591107","adminTags":null,"views":815,"createdBy":12070539,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Too Soon for Santa?","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2703177,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"9 Nov 2009 21:14:19 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":7,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"kerrywenrich","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1216260","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"I do believe it's a litle early for him to be here many people myself included haven't even begun there christmas shopping or made up their list for him"},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"396494_69591107","adminTags":null,"views":815,"createdBy":7918844,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Too Soon for Santa?","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2703177,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"9 Nov 2009 22:57:35 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":7,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"anonymous_user","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1217040","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"I like shopping early for christmas. Better to beat the crowds, and you can still find some good deals -- especially with "price alert" web sites. I've already made a list of the gifts i'm buying for my family at ZingSale.com, and now i get an email when any of them go on sale. <br /><br />http://www.zingsale.com"},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"396494_69591107","adminTags":null,"views":815,"createdBy":7918844,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Too Soon for Santa?","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2703177,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"10 Nov 2009 00:42:28 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":7,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"anonymous_user","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1217585","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"Please - Santa CLAUSE is a Tim Allen movie. The big guy in the red suit is Santa CLAUS. "},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"396494_69591107","adminTags":null,"views":815,"createdBy":7918844,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Too Soon for Santa?","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2703177,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"10 Nov 2009 15:10:34 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":7,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"anonymous_user","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1220367","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"This is sad!!! I REFUSE to shop for the holidays UNTIL Thanksgiving is over and Santa OFFICIALLY arrives at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! I will not change my holiday routine because of a few greedy merchants. And my children will see Santa at our towns firehouse and I can take my own picture and not have to pay for my kids to stand in line for hours on end! I wish people would remember the true meaning of Christmas - sad indeed :("},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"396494_69591107","adminTags":null,"views":815,"createdBy":10241291,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Too Soon for Santa?","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2703177,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"12 Nov 2009 17:52:11 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":7,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"BethMcFadden","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1234298","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"Actually, as much as I dislike this, I do understand it. I have been doing all my shopping online for years. In order to do that properly, you have to start early, so you have time to return something that you may not care for once it arrives. With more and more people doing this, retail stores have to start their Christmas early, too, to compete for our shopping dollars. Honestly, I'm tired of it all. I'd like to just start giving charitable contributions to everyone except the kids--but when I suggested that, my extended family all but accused me of being a Communist. My sister actually said, "No way--I want stuff." Holy, holy. And I'm not religious."}],"error":"","totPages":1}

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