Santa Sightings

Postmen dressed as Santa Claus in delivery bikes wave before leaving Kwang Hwa Moon post office to deliver letters in Seoul Friday, Dec. 23, 2005.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, left, shakes hands with Santa Claus at the Transportation Department in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2005 where they signed an open skies aviation agreeement between the U.S. and the government of the North Pole to give Santa and his team greater access to rooftops across the country.

Santa Claus dances during Christmas celebrations with inmates and their children at the Women's Penitentiary, San Salvador, El Salvador, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2005.

Kelly Schneider, 3, of Portland, Conn, greets Santa Claus with a hug during a visit to a pre-school program Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2005, at the YMCA in Middletown, Conn.

New York City commuters, including two Santa's, cross a midtown intersection Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2005. Subways and buses ground to a halt Tuesday morning in New York as transit workers walked off the job following days of acrimonious labor talks, forcing more than 7 million daily riders to find new ways to get around.

Hillside Elementary School pre-kindergartner Frank Turon uses sign language to tell Santa what he wants for Christmas on Friday, Dec. 16, 2005, in El Paso, Texas. Frank and other hearing impaired students from Hillside visited with Santa who "talked" to the children with sign language. Frank told Santa he wants a robot, a car and a monster toy.

Some of the 6,000 Santa Claus dolls in Sharon Badgley's collection are displayed in her Greenwich, N.Y., home on Dec. 12, 2005. It takes Badgley almost three weeks to put the collection out. In the background is a Santa with eyes that light up.

Jason Schwenke is towed by a sea scooter amid a school of fish Sunday, Dec. 18, 2005, in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary off Key Largo, Fla. Schwenke, manager of the Florida Keys Dive Center, offers an opportunity for customers to be photographed underwater with Santa in exchange for a donation to a local children's shelter.

Ron Wood performs as a singing Santa for residents of Meadow Brooke Health Care on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2005, in Plattsburgh, N.Y. Wood has portrayed Santa for more than 40 years.

Santa Claus and models in costume greet people at a shopping center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2005. Malaysians started using Christmas and New Year decorations to promote their businesses in the hopes that it will boost sales.

Santa rides on the front of a Sandy Springs, S.C., fire truck with a few firefighters during the world famous two-lap Denver Neighborhood Christmas Parade on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2005, in Anderson, S.C.

Female amusement park employees ride sleighs as part of promotional event at the Ubang Tower Land amusement park in Daegu, south of Seoul, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2005.

A man in a Santa Claus costume joins the citizens of Nice in the 61st Christmas bath in southern France, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2005. Some 200 swimmers took part in the celebration.

Dick Otterstad of the Church of the Divide protests Wal-Mart's use of the phrase "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas" in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2005. The Bentonville, Ark.-based company says it supports the generic greeting because it is more inclusive of other faiths.

Susie Campbell and her son, Conner, 3, meet Santa Claus at the Broadway Square Mall in Tyler, Texas, on Friday, Dec. 16, 2005. Conner declines Santa's invitation to tell him what he'd like for Christmas but accepts a candy cane.

Mike Mercier, a eighth-grade North Canton Middle School student who dressed as Santa Claus, offers a gift to 18-month-old Shaelyn Spring who also dressed for the occasion Thursday, Dec. 15, 2005, at the YMCA in Canton, Ohio. Fifty sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students with learning disabilities hosted the Christmas party for the youngsters.

Vietnamese men dressed as Santa Claus wait on their motorbikes on a street in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2005. Christmas is not widely celebrated in this predominantly Buddhist country.

Santa Claus reacts after being licked by Toby, a Boston terrier, during a "Pet Photos With Santa" event sponsored by the Anderson Humane Society at the PetSmart store in Anderson, S.C., on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2005.