'Tis The Season

With light rain falling, Santa waves to passing shoppers as he takes a break from taking photos with children at the Santa House at Utica Square in Tulsa, Okla., on Dec. 20, 2006. With shoppers procrastinating even more this year than last year, according to reports, retailers are bracing for an even bigger rush this final shopping weekend.

An Indonesian Muslim woman takes a photo of a Christmas display at a shopping mall Dec. 20, 2006, in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Just in time for holiday shoppers, Spike Lee signs copies of his HBO documentary "When The Levees Broke" in New York on Dec. 19, 2006, as it was released on DVD. His film deals with the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans.

Drake Perkins, right, dislikes his visit with Santa Claus on Dec. 18, 2006, at Northland Mall in Sterling, Ill.

Children look up at Christmas decorations hung in a shop in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Dec. 19, 2006. Vietnam is going crazy about Christmas, and at no place is this more apparent than in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's capital of commerce, Catholicism and fun.

Douglas Percy of London checks a map after shopping at Macy's in New York on Dec. 19, 2006. As stressed-out shoppers enter the home stretch of the holiday shopping season, retailers are bracing for the rush, and doing what they can to manage the mad multitudes.

Dumfries, Va., police officers William Humphries, left, and Nate Vinyard playfully fight for a championship wrestling belt as they escort children around the toy section of a Wal-Mart during the "Christmas in Dumfries" on Dec. 16, 2006. The Town of Dumfries helped 137 children by giving them each $100 to spend on holiday gifts.

A woman holds shopping bags in San Francisco on Dec. 11, 2006. The holiday shopping season may not be so bad as first predicted. Consumers came surging back into the stores in November, pushing retail sales up at the fastest pace in four months.

A shopper walks past a man dressed as Santa in Tysons Corner Mall on Dec. 12, 2006, in McLean, Va. At least one survey says Americans are expected to spend an average of nearly $800 each on holiday shopping this year.

Shoppers ride an escalator past a snowman in Tysons Corner Mall on Dec. 12, 2006, in McLean, Va. By the time the shopping season is over, the country will have spent in the neighborhood of $150 billion, most of it on gifts. That's an average of $500 for every man, woman and child in the U.S.

Producer Russell Simmons, his daughters Ming Lee Simmons, Aoki Lee Simmons and brother Danny Simmons attend the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundations Youth Holiday Party at Irving Plaza in New York on Dec. 11, 2006.

An Iranian Muslim couple walks past a shop decorated with images of Santa Claus and other festive characters as Christians prepare to celebrate Christmas and New Year's Day in Tehran, Iran, on Dec. 17, 2006.

Holiday shoppers carry their packages along Michigan Avenue in Chicago on Dec. 8, 2006. The shopping season was off to a slow start with sales for the first week of December lagging behind last year's lackluster figures.

Two Chinese men dressed in Santa Claus outfits walk in a shopping mall on Dec. 2, 2006, in Wuhan of Hubei Province, China. Western traditions such as the Christmas Day, Valentine's Day and Halloween have become increasingly popular among Chinese youth, as shops, restaurants and bars promote their businesses during these holidays.

Singer Jewel sits with Santa after she performed a free holiday concert in New York's Herald Square on Nov. 30, 2006.

From left, Cindy Jones, Dee Hooks and Jennifer Perrill take a break from shopping at the Baybrook Mall on Nov. 24, 2006, in Friendswood, Texas. Almost half of all Americans crammed stores on the day after Thanksgiving this year, the traditional beginning of the holiday shopping season.

Santa's Helper — GETTY IMAGES/Bryan Bedder

Actress Sienna Miller attends the Cartier Holiday bow celebration in New York on Nov. 13, 2006. Perhaps she told Santa what she wishes for Christmas.

A view of the 572nd Christmas market in Dresden, Germany, on Nov. 29, 2006. You know its Christmas time in Germany when, inexplicably and almost overnight, the public squares of most cities and towns are transformed into shopping bazaars.

A reindeer sleigh and Christmas decorations are seen in the sales room of a department store in Berlin on Nov. 6, 2006. German consumer confidence is at a five-year high, unemployment is headed down and shoppers are hustling to beat a Jan. 1 increase in value-added tax from 16 percent to 19 percent by picking up everything from new refrigerators to high-definition televisions.

Shoppers walk past decorations that have been put on display for Christmas outside a shopping mall in Hong Kong on Dec. 6, 2006. Shops and malls have been packed on the weekends running up to the holiday.

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