OVER AND OUT: The Santa at The...

OVER AND OUT: The Santa at The Oaks mall--Craig Trudeau to family and friends--has seen, by his count, about 4,000 children since he set up shop the day after Thanksgiving. And is he glad that The Big Day has arrived at last? “I am most definitely done and ready,” he said after his last shift Friday. . . . As the early-shift Santa, the 51-year-old Trudeau got mostly the stroller set, ranging in age from a couple of weeks to 5 or so. Wailers didn’t bother him much. “I’ve been a grandfather and raised kids of my own, so crying is nothing new to me.”

DOUBLE DUTY: Christmas this year falls on the day after regular Sunday services, but Msgr. Patrick J. O’Brien said San Buenaventura Mission is expecting no fewer worshipers at its service today: “This is a lot of church for one weekend, but we expect attendance will be normal for Christmas.” . . . Many Protestant churches won’t hold services, having opted for a Christmas Eve celebration, but the sermon will go on at All Saints Episcopal in Oxnard. “It would never occur to me not to do that,” Father Anthony Guillen said.

HOLIDAY BOUNTY: The economy’s still shaky, but many food programs aren’t hurting, thanks to the individuals and organizations that are picking up the slack (B1). . . . One of those individuals is Jack Layton, who has worked as Food Share’s warehouse foreman for the last eight years and who just donated $10,000 to the regional food bank. Layton, a retired Marine, says he loves his staff: “It’s different when you’ve got all volunteers. They’re all older people who have been around, and they know what’s going on. They never say no to a job.” . . . And how long will Layton be at Food Share? “Until I drop.”

X-RATED XMAS: Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt sent pornographic Christmas cards, complete with a nude Santa Claus and risque message, to the entire Congress. “I’m just trying to get Bosnia and the budget off their minds,” he said. One of the recipients, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), would prefer to be left off Flynt’s list next year. He called the cards gross.

WEATHER: A chance of showers with highs to low 60s. B7