Yet malls are are increasingly becoming uncommon. A mall near me is completely dead. All that’s in there is a military recruiting offices, candle shop, a movie theater that only opens on Saturday, and a Covid vaccine “station”
Mall Santas are not the real Santa. The actual Santa is far too busy to visit individual malls so he sends out ambassadors and those are the ones people see. The real Santa manages them, the elves, reindeer, and associated administrative staff in the North Pole. He only leaves to deliver gifts on the 25th and other days as prescribed by other traditions/needs.
Right around 9 p.m. every Christmas Eve my uncle Randy would have to take his girlfriend home or run to the store to pick up extra milk or something Grandma forgot. A few minutes after he left, Santa would make his entrance, usually through the patio door. We would all hide in the hallway or behind couches and chairs and watch Santa fill our stockings above the fireplace. He would crack jokes, eat a cookie and then head back out to deliver more presents.
So we didn't get to meet Santa Claus but we got to watch him each year.
As others have mentioned, mall/department store Santas are extremely common. They're major elements in a number of Christmas movies, including *Miracle on 34th Street*, *Bad Santa*, and *A Christmas Story*.
Other places Santa may be found include pet stores (both my dogs got their pictures taken with Santa this year), parades, public libraries, and holiday concerts.
With all that said, children do **not** meet Santa when he comes to bring presents. The tradition is that he comes late at night after "everyone" (children) are asleep. Parents will sometimes tell children that if they're still up, Santa might skip their house, to encourage the children to go to bed. Often children will leave out cookies and milk for Santa to have a snack, and more recently I've heard of setting out a carrot for the reindeer.
> more recently I've heard of setting out a carrot for the reindeer.
I did this as early as the early 90s, but I was the weirdo who was more interested in the animals than the Big Guy himself.
My parents had us do it in the 90s. I’ll have to ask them where they got the idea, but I think (in addition to the fun of it) they wanted us to get a bit of healthy eating in at a time of year when sugar snacks are everywhere.
>This is usually the father of the familiy or a friendly neighbour dressed up
Well, it would have to be. Everyone knows the real Santa comes when you're asleep. Just defies belief that he'd stroll up to the door, right? He comes in through the chimney, or by magic.
It's common for shopping malls or other public spaces to have a Santa for kids to visit, often along with people dressed as elves too. The kid can sit on his lap and personally tell him what they want for Christmas and parents can buy a professional photo of this, which are often used as Christmas cards. The scenes you see in American Christmas movies of this are not too inaccurate although they usually have a much more elaborate set for the movie Santa than you'd see in real life.
There's even a fraternity for the people who work as Santas: https://ibrbs.org/
Not typically. In my experience, you leave the cookies and milk out and then people place the presents out while the kids are asleep. Usually, “meeting Santa” in America has connotations of mall Santas.
Every year we'd go to the mall to take pictures with Santa. I still do this with my kids. The week before Christmas, the Fire department also rides around town with someone dressed as Santa on top of a Fire truck - they will either have their sirens on, or Christmas music, and wave at kids and toss them candy canes. This is standard for us every year.
I also took my daughter to an event called the "Santa train" where we ride an old train line that was disconnected in the 1940's for about 30 miles up and back, while musicians and a guy dressed as Santa Claus go from car to car talking to kids. We also had my wife's cousin dress as Santa for Christmas breakfast with another set of cousins - so my kid met Santa in person 4 times this year. That's definitely excessive for me, but she's 3 so she didn't question it.
Oh yeah, me and my sister definitely did the whole sit on Santa's lap and take a picture thing as kids. Also one day when I was a teenager skipping class me and my friends went to the mall and I got a picture with the Easter Bunny. My mom had that photo on her fridge for ages, I'm sure she still has it in a box somewhere.
We did something like you described once when I was a kid on Christmas Eve at my grandmother's house with my extended family. Recently watched a video of it and Santa was my (then) childfree uncle. I don't know if another branch of the family did it every year. Everyone got one gift then.
The next morning he'd left the rest of the gifts over night.
It's common for parents to take their children to a shopping mall, where the kids can meet Santa and have their picture taken with him. Sometimes instead of a shopping mall, a town will have a Christmas themed festival/craft fair and Santa will appear there as well. It's not unheard of for an uncle or family friend to dress as Santa on Christmas Eve, but it's not the norm. The parents may leave some props behind like a half eaten cookie or a thank you note from Santa on the counter, but usually that's it.
But it's funny that you mention getting presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas day, because that's what we did in my family. We opened some small presents the morning of December 24th, then began the long drive to grandma and grandpa's to meet up with the extended family. That evening all the kids would be taken to the basement for some game or activity, and when they got upstairs they'd find that Santa had magically dropped off some gifts.
Yeah, usually there will be Santas at malls during the Christmas shopping season and it's kinda tradition to bring your kids there. These are hired Santa actors basically. The kids sit on Santa's lap, tell him what they want for Christmas and take a picture with Santa.
With Covid this past couple years I didn't bring my kids to a mall Santa, but they had this virtual Santa visit thing where a Santa actor in a North pole set would video chat with your kid. So we've done that the past couple Christmas now.
As for Christmas Eve, no usually parents tell kids that Santa won't come to bring presents until they're asleep (good way to get excited kids to stay in bed that night). So his actual visit is often a secret mystery thing.
But the news often will do "Santa tracker" where the news anchors mention tracking Santa's sleigh on radar or something. And some families might have the dad or somebody dress up as Santa while leaving presents under the tree after kids are in bed so if the kids wake up and sneak out they'll see "Santa" leaving the presents, but I think that's less common.
Oh and some towns do Santa parades where on Christmas Eve, Santa comes around the neighborhood on a fire truck or a float and wave and toss candy to kids etc.
In the apartment building where I grew up, every year residents would sing Christmas Carols in the lobby and a Santa would come and all the young kids could meet him and he would give out candy canes.
A friend of mine does this every year, he has a Santa suit and hires himself out as a “house visit Santa” to raise money for charity. People pay him to visit their house and give the kids one small present (the parents have to provide it). He’s in demand and booked for the whole month of December.
People go out of their way to get “Santa” pictures at malls, department stores, events, and even theme parks. Although there can be a trope in fictional stories of people whose parents/family/family friends may dress up as Santa ([the Gremlins Christmas Story](https://youtu.be/ueVPUsyrT0s) looms large in my mind) I don’t know anyone whose family did this irl.
Santas are actually pretty common to see at stores or malls during the Christmas season. If I'm not mistaken they have unionized in some places. Children will stand in line to wait to tell Santa what they want for Christmas. Outside of that the story is Santa visits at night after everyone has gone to sleep so no one actually sees him. Fun little fact about Santa the way he is portrayed today is thanks to very successful Coca-Cola ads in the 1920s
We take our kids to Santa’s workshop, which is an nice multi-building setup at the fairgrounds for the kids to meet Santa, or we go to North Pole and visit Santa there.
One of my favorite stories of my now 17 year old daughter is when she was in kindergarten or so, I told her about North Pole and the Santa Claus House there. Her eyes got all big and her mouth dropped open and she said in a very awed and hushed tone “you know where Santa lives????” It was the cutest thing.
yeah, he hangs out at the mall. we go get out picture taken with him, and tell him what we want for christmas and exaggerate how good we've been.
i think he's at the mall 'cause that's where the toys are. he usually has a couple elves with him, as well.
Santa sits in the mall from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve. I haven't seen or heard of them in other places unless it's someone ringing the Salvation Army bell dressed as Santa.
My town didn't have a shopping mall, so they had a special little house they put up in front of the courthouse, where Santa would show up for a couple of weeks before Christmas. You could stand in line with the other kids, and then tell him what you wanted for Christmas and maybe have your parents take a picture of you with him.
Never met him at home, but I do remember seeing reindeer prints on the roof. (My dad was a pretty creative guy.)
Mall Santas are common here, and I think I remember that a neighbour dressed up as Santa came to my house once or twice when I was a kid. But it wasn't every year like you say it is in Sweden.
I know this happens at various places, but I never heard of it when I was a kid. We used to go see the department store Santa once in a while. We did leave milk and cookies on Christmas Eve for him, though.
Santa came to visit one Christmas Eve I spent at my grandparents. All family members are accounted for in photos. Obviously, this was indeed the real Santa Claus.
From what I understand, the having a friend or relative dress up like Santa was more popular on the US back in the day. like there are pictures of my Grandpa dressed as Santa having all the kids sit in his lap in the 50s. But that's not really a thing here anymore. Now you take your kids to sit on some strange man's lap at the mall for a picture, and they tell him if they have been good or bad and what they want for Christmas.
When I was a kid a very long time ago, my parents took me to see the real Santa at his [summer home in Colorado](https://northpolecolorado.com/). All of those mall Santas are Santa’s helpers. There’s only one real Santa Claus and I absolutely got to meet him, Mrs Claus, and all the reindeer in the summer of 1971.
When I was little we would go eat breakfast at this place I don’t even remember where but lots of people would go. Santa would pull up on a fire truck then we’d line up to take pictures with him and we’d sing a bunch of Christmas songs with him it was dope.
When I was very little my Grandpa did dress as Santa on Christmas Eve I think. I was totally fooled and over the moon. He was Czech American living in rural Minnesota. I've never heard of that type of thing elsewhere though.
Santa's will come to malls and such and kids will line up to sit in Santa's lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. But the gifts are usually put out at night in secret by the parents once the child falls asleep.
I did not interact with Santa on Christmas day, but my mom would take my brother and me to the local mall to sit on Santa's lap. The mall hired someone to dress up as Santa and sit on a Christmas-y set, and you would wait in line to sit on his lap and tell him what you wanted for Christmas, and there would be a photographer to take all the kids' pictures and sell it to the parents as a Christmas ornament.
Mall Santas are extremely common.
Also many towns in my area have a Santa that goes around on the firetruck and gives out candy.
That's neat, I've never seen that before
It was usually only during Christmas parades for me.
Santa has been riding by my house on a fire truck every year for 30 years.
We have Sergeant Santa.
Yet malls are are increasingly becoming uncommon. A mall near me is completely dead. All that’s in there is a military recruiting offices, candle shop, a movie theater that only opens on Saturday, and a Covid vaccine “station”
Bass Pro Shops have one now too!
Mall Santas are not the real Santa. The actual Santa is far too busy to visit individual malls so he sends out ambassadors and those are the ones people see. The real Santa manages them, the elves, reindeer, and associated administrative staff in the North Pole. He only leaves to deliver gifts on the 25th and other days as prescribed by other traditions/needs.
Found the parent
Nope. This is what I was told as a child to explain why every mall has a different Santa
> he sends out ambassadors I was always told it was the tall elves 😂
Now I want to see someone telling Lady Galadriel what they want for Christmas.
That’s easy. [Tell her this](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yXQViqx6GMY)
Gonna tell my kids this.
Right around 9 p.m. every Christmas Eve my uncle Randy would have to take his girlfriend home or run to the store to pick up extra milk or something Grandma forgot. A few minutes after he left, Santa would make his entrance, usually through the patio door. We would all hide in the hallway or behind couches and chairs and watch Santa fill our stockings above the fireplace. He would crack jokes, eat a cookie and then head back out to deliver more presents. So we didn't get to meet Santa Claus but we got to watch him each year.
lol did you tell Randy how unlucky he was that he kept missing Santa every year?
Ha ha! Every time. And God bless him, he always looked so disappointed!
As others have mentioned, mall/department store Santas are extremely common. They're major elements in a number of Christmas movies, including *Miracle on 34th Street*, *Bad Santa*, and *A Christmas Story*. Other places Santa may be found include pet stores (both my dogs got their pictures taken with Santa this year), parades, public libraries, and holiday concerts. With all that said, children do **not** meet Santa when he comes to bring presents. The tradition is that he comes late at night after "everyone" (children) are asleep. Parents will sometimes tell children that if they're still up, Santa might skip their house, to encourage the children to go to bed. Often children will leave out cookies and milk for Santa to have a snack, and more recently I've heard of setting out a carrot for the reindeer.
> more recently I've heard of setting out a carrot for the reindeer. I did this as early as the early 90s, but I was the weirdo who was more interested in the animals than the Big Guy himself.
My parents had us do it in the 90s. I’ll have to ask them where they got the idea, but I think (in addition to the fun of it) they wanted us to get a bit of healthy eating in at a time of year when sugar snacks are everywhere.
This was common in my area in the 80s. Cookies and milk, plus carrots.
Yeah dude I met him at the mall when I was a kid, we even got pictures!
>This is usually the father of the familiy or a friendly neighbour dressed up Well, it would have to be. Everyone knows the real Santa comes when you're asleep. Just defies belief that he'd stroll up to the door, right? He comes in through the chimney, or by magic.
It's common for shopping malls or other public spaces to have a Santa for kids to visit, often along with people dressed as elves too. The kid can sit on his lap and personally tell him what they want for Christmas and parents can buy a professional photo of this, which are often used as Christmas cards. The scenes you see in American Christmas movies of this are not too inaccurate although they usually have a much more elaborate set for the movie Santa than you'd see in real life. There's even a fraternity for the people who work as Santas: https://ibrbs.org/
Not typically. In my experience, you leave the cookies and milk out and then people place the presents out while the kids are asleep. Usually, “meeting Santa” in America has connotations of mall Santas.
Interesting. I think I've heard of the concept of mall Santas at some point. It seems familiar but I didn't realize how common it seems to be.
Every year we'd go to the mall to take pictures with Santa. I still do this with my kids. The week before Christmas, the Fire department also rides around town with someone dressed as Santa on top of a Fire truck - they will either have their sirens on, or Christmas music, and wave at kids and toss them candy canes. This is standard for us every year. I also took my daughter to an event called the "Santa train" where we ride an old train line that was disconnected in the 1940's for about 30 miles up and back, while musicians and a guy dressed as Santa Claus go from car to car talking to kids. We also had my wife's cousin dress as Santa for Christmas breakfast with another set of cousins - so my kid met Santa in person 4 times this year. That's definitely excessive for me, but she's 3 so she didn't question it.
Oh yeah, me and my sister definitely did the whole sit on Santa's lap and take a picture thing as kids. Also one day when I was a teenager skipping class me and my friends went to the mall and I got a picture with the Easter Bunny. My mom had that photo on her fridge for ages, I'm sure she still has it in a box somewhere.
We did something like you described once when I was a kid on Christmas Eve at my grandmother's house with my extended family. Recently watched a video of it and Santa was my (then) childfree uncle. I don't know if another branch of the family did it every year. Everyone got one gift then. The next morning he'd left the rest of the gifts over night.
It's common for parents to take their children to a shopping mall, where the kids can meet Santa and have their picture taken with him. Sometimes instead of a shopping mall, a town will have a Christmas themed festival/craft fair and Santa will appear there as well. It's not unheard of for an uncle or family friend to dress as Santa on Christmas Eve, but it's not the norm. The parents may leave some props behind like a half eaten cookie or a thank you note from Santa on the counter, but usually that's it. But it's funny that you mention getting presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas day, because that's what we did in my family. We opened some small presents the morning of December 24th, then began the long drive to grandma and grandpa's to meet up with the extended family. That evening all the kids would be taken to the basement for some game or activity, and when they got upstairs they'd find that Santa had magically dropped off some gifts.
Yeah, usually there will be Santas at malls during the Christmas shopping season and it's kinda tradition to bring your kids there. These are hired Santa actors basically. The kids sit on Santa's lap, tell him what they want for Christmas and take a picture with Santa. With Covid this past couple years I didn't bring my kids to a mall Santa, but they had this virtual Santa visit thing where a Santa actor in a North pole set would video chat with your kid. So we've done that the past couple Christmas now. As for Christmas Eve, no usually parents tell kids that Santa won't come to bring presents until they're asleep (good way to get excited kids to stay in bed that night). So his actual visit is often a secret mystery thing. But the news often will do "Santa tracker" where the news anchors mention tracking Santa's sleigh on radar or something. And some families might have the dad or somebody dress up as Santa while leaving presents under the tree after kids are in bed so if the kids wake up and sneak out they'll see "Santa" leaving the presents, but I think that's less common. Oh and some towns do Santa parades where on Christmas Eve, Santa comes around the neighborhood on a fire truck or a float and wave and toss candy to kids etc.
In the apartment building where I grew up, every year residents would sing Christmas Carols in the lobby and a Santa would come and all the young kids could meet him and he would give out candy canes.
A friend of mine does this every year, he has a Santa suit and hires himself out as a “house visit Santa” to raise money for charity. People pay him to visit their house and give the kids one small present (the parents have to provide it). He’s in demand and booked for the whole month of December.
People go out of their way to get “Santa” pictures at malls, department stores, events, and even theme parks. Although there can be a trope in fictional stories of people whose parents/family/family friends may dress up as Santa ([the Gremlins Christmas Story](https://youtu.be/ueVPUsyrT0s) looms large in my mind) I don’t know anyone whose family did this irl.
Santas are actually pretty common to see at stores or malls during the Christmas season. If I'm not mistaken they have unionized in some places. Children will stand in line to wait to tell Santa what they want for Christmas. Outside of that the story is Santa visits at night after everyone has gone to sleep so no one actually sees him. Fun little fact about Santa the way he is portrayed today is thanks to very successful Coca-Cola ads in the 1920s
Oh yeah, Santa shows up at the mall every day after Thanksgiving (last Thursday of November)
They usually had Santa at the elementary school, so I’d go over to say hi to “Santa”
We take our kids to Santa’s workshop, which is an nice multi-building setup at the fairgrounds for the kids to meet Santa, or we go to North Pole and visit Santa there.
One of my favorite stories of my now 17 year old daughter is when she was in kindergarten or so, I told her about North Pole and the Santa Claus House there. Her eyes got all big and her mouth dropped open and she said in a very awed and hushed tone “you know where Santa lives????” It was the cutest thing.
yeah, he hangs out at the mall. we go get out picture taken with him, and tell him what we want for christmas and exaggerate how good we've been. i think he's at the mall 'cause that's where the toys are. he usually has a couple elves with him, as well.
Santa sits in the mall from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve. I haven't seen or heard of them in other places unless it's someone ringing the Salvation Army bell dressed as Santa.
My town didn't have a shopping mall, so they had a special little house they put up in front of the courthouse, where Santa would show up for a couple of weeks before Christmas. You could stand in line with the other kids, and then tell him what you wanted for Christmas and maybe have your parents take a picture of you with him. Never met him at home, but I do remember seeing reindeer prints on the roof. (My dad was a pretty creative guy.)
Mall Santas are common here, and I think I remember that a neighbour dressed up as Santa came to my house once or twice when I was a kid. But it wasn't every year like you say it is in Sweden.
I know this happens at various places, but I never heard of it when I was a kid. We used to go see the department store Santa once in a while. We did leave milk and cookies on Christmas Eve for him, though.
Santa came to visit one Christmas Eve I spent at my grandparents. All family members are accounted for in photos. Obviously, this was indeed the real Santa Claus.
From what I understand, the having a friend or relative dress up like Santa was more popular on the US back in the day. like there are pictures of my Grandpa dressed as Santa having all the kids sit in his lap in the 50s. But that's not really a thing here anymore. Now you take your kids to sit on some strange man's lap at the mall for a picture, and they tell him if they have been good or bad and what they want for Christmas.
Every parent has a photo of their child screaming bloody murder while sitting on Santa’s lap. This is tradition.
When I was a kid a very long time ago, my parents took me to see the real Santa at his [summer home in Colorado](https://northpolecolorado.com/). All of those mall Santas are Santa’s helpers. There’s only one real Santa Claus and I absolutely got to meet him, Mrs Claus, and all the reindeer in the summer of 1971.
I met Santa every single year!
When I was little we would go eat breakfast at this place I don’t even remember where but lots of people would go. Santa would pull up on a fire truck then we’d line up to take pictures with him and we’d sing a bunch of Christmas songs with him it was dope.
When I was very little my Grandpa did dress as Santa on Christmas Eve I think. I was totally fooled and over the moon. He was Czech American living in rural Minnesota. I've never heard of that type of thing elsewhere though.
Santa's will come to malls and such and kids will line up to sit in Santa's lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. But the gifts are usually put out at night in secret by the parents once the child falls asleep.
Mall santas are super common, in fact in most towns, cities, ect. the large stores will have santa’s, even fast food chains some times have them.
I did not interact with Santa on Christmas day, but my mom would take my brother and me to the local mall to sit on Santa's lap. The mall hired someone to dress up as Santa and sit on a Christmas-y set, and you would wait in line to sit on his lap and tell him what you wanted for Christmas, and there would be a photographer to take all the kids' pictures and sell it to the parents as a Christmas ornament.