And the malls wonder why Christmas sales are down

Santa Claus is on the endangered list. The reason? It’s the same one that the snow leopard faces: loss of habitat due to human encroachment.

For years, that habitat has been the mall concourse, which Santa entered around Thanksgiving to the tune of "Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus, Right down Santa Claus Lane."

The concourse lane was transformed into a magical wonderland filled with candy canes, mechanical reindeer, singing bears, snow bunnies, mountains made of snow and covered with sugar plums, and lighted trees, some soaring two stories high.

It was a sight grand enough for people to spread the word to friends far and wide: “You have to visit our mall.” People came in droves to see the fairyland and to soak up the beauty and peace of Christmas.

They also came to see Santa Claus who sat on a gilded chair perched on a dais, high enough to make him visible to the tiniest onlooker. Children waited in line for their chance to sit on the famous man’s lap and to tell him privately what he could do to make their dreams come true.

However, it takes a whole lot of mall space to promote Santa Claus and the Christmas spirit. It’s that space that has been shrinking.

This year it has reached a new low in area malls. Where have all the decorations gone? The snow-covered mountains, reindeer, elves, candy canes, and Christmas trees?

You might even have a hard time finding Santa. He still sits on his gilded chair, but missing is his wonderland support. Replacing the snow and sugar plum-coated mountain is the reason for his shrunken setting: It is the kiosk, a stall or cart, filled with merchandise owned by entrepreneurs who outbid Santa for the space.

Santa Claus Lane now looks more like Portobello Road.

It’s where shoppers walk a gauntlet of hawkers, who ply their wares such as cellular phones, watches, incense, designer T-shirts, and body piercing jewelry. Bug-sized cars zoom around your feet and toy plastic spacecraft hover over your head. Sellers tempt you with lotions, calendars, customized license plates, ceramic dolls, fudge.

Their mission: Get your attention anyway they can. You have a few choices: You can stop and listen to their spiel, you can chose to buy or not to buy their goods, or you can walk by them quickly, head down, saying to yourself like you would if you found yourself in the midst of loiterers in a bad section of town, Don’t have eye contact. Keep moving.

It’s time for the Santa Claus Protection Agency to step up.