Santa Claus visits with a young girl on December 20, 2008 at the Tysons Corner mall in Tysons Corner, Virginia. Santa  has been extremely busy with requests with only 5 days to go until Christmas:

A group of 40 men dressed as Santa Claus march as they distribute sweets and small presents along a central street of Uzhgorod in western Ukraine:

Postmen wearing Santa Claus outfits ride delivery motorcycles during a photo call at a post office in Seoul December 19, 2008. About 40 postmen will deliver Christmas gifts to unfortunate children on Christmas Eve:

A couple dressed like Santa Claus  kisses while participating in an event attempting to win the Guinness World Record for the most numerous Santa  Clauses in one town, in front of Romania's Parliament Palace in Bucharest . Romanians took part in this event and Bucharest won the world record:

A Palestinian boy, dressed as Santa Claus, participates in a Sunday mass at the Latin church in Gaza Sunday. Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal led prayers Sunday at a Gaza City church in his first trip to the isolated territory's tiny Christian community:

Azubike Okonji wears a SantaClaus costume as he passes out fliers on a street in Lagos, Nigeria:

Skydivers in Santa Claus costumes prepare to dive in formation over Sydney to launch the new festive experiences range by an Australian online experience company, at Picton on December 17, 2008 in Sydney, Australia. The gift experience company's festive offerings include tandem skydives with Santa, Bondi Bash with Santa boating experience, a trip to the North Pole to find Santa  and snowmobiling in Lapland:

 Children watch penguins dressed in SantaClaus costumes at Everland, South Korea's largest amusement park, in Yongin, South Korea. Christmas has become increasingly popular over the years in South Korea, which is the only East Asian country to recognise Christmas as a national holiday:

A diver dressed in Santa Claus costume swims inside an aquarium as part of a promotion for Christmas festival in Bangkok on December 18, 2008. Thailand's economy is already slowing. Thailand's central bank has forecast growth for this year to be between 4.3 and five percent, having already cut its estimate from an earlier figure of 4.8-5.8 percent:

About 280 volunteers wearing Santa Claus  outfits release balloons into the sky during a photo call by an insurance company in Seoul December 17, 2008. The volunteer  Santa Clauses will deliver Christmas gifts to premature babies:

 A female diver dressed in  Santa Claus costumes feeds small fish inside a fish tank decorated with a Christmas wreath at the Sunshine International Aquarium in Tokyo. The aquarium will display seasonal decorations in the large fish tank to attract visitors until Christmas Day:

 Skydivers in Santa Claus   costumes dive in formation over Sydney to launch the new festive experiences range by an Australian online experience company, at Picton in Sydney, Australia. The gift experience company's festive offerings include tandem skydives with Santa , Bondi Bash with Santa   boating experience, a trip to the North Pole to find Santa  and snowmobiling in Lapland:

People walk past a window display of Santa Claus riding his sleigh, in Mumbai:

Santa Claus  reads letters coming in from the world in his "office" in Rovaniemi. Rovaniemi's Christmas theme park is in full swing, teeming mainly with families with children eager to meet Santa and his elves. In 2007, almost one million tourists visited Finnish Lapland above the Arctic Circle, 360,000 of whom were foreigners, mainly from Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Norway and Russia, according to the regional council of Lapland:

A diver in Santa Claus  costume rides a bicycle inside a shark tank at the Sea World in Jakarta, Indonesia:

 ©Reuters Pictures

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