Children Wait By the Phone for Santa to Call

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (PRNewswire) – After decades of long lines with crabby children at a crowded mall, parents are finally being offered an alternative to the traditional visit with Santa Claus. Christmas websites like SantaSpeaking.com are offering parents and children a much needed, more convenient, Santa experience – live, highly personalized, phone calls from the big man himself. Children can chat away with Santa in the comfort of their own home, and be delighted by all of the details that Santa knows about them – information the parent provides when they order online. Santa now actually knows if they have been naughty or nice, right down to the details. The phone calls from Santa may be proving to become the new Santa tradition globally as the International Council of Shopping Centers reports that from 2001 to 2003, children visiting Santa at the mall fell 41%. And with the rising popularity of the Internet over the last decade, children are searching for Santa online throughout the holiday season, beginning in early October.