Now, putting all my dramatics aside for a moment, just a moment, because even Grandma needs to give you the straight scoop, the truth is, dear, that the demand for hiring professional Santas really is down, significantly. This 'Head Elf' fellow from Hire Santa, Mitch Allen, he's seeing a big drop in inquiries for his jolly men – almost 27% compared to last year, which itself was already lower than the year before. And it's not just the Santas; big human resources firms, like Challenger, Gray, & Christmas, have actually reported that overall seasonal hiring this holiday season is projected to be at its lowest point since the recession-hit year of 2009. Imagine that, back to those difficult times! Even the folks at Indeed Hiring Lab, they track all those job postings online, say that what they're seeing in seasonal hiring is a 'microcosm' of the broader labor market, meaning 'things are cooling down, things are slowing down.' This is all happening while we're also dealing with a lack of official, reliable economic statistics from the government. (Honestly, what are they doing up there in Washington, playing with their new toys instead of giving us the real numbers?) We just had the longest government shutdown in American history, and now the Trump administration has been delaying and even canceling some economic reports. So, we're all left a bit in the dark, trying to figure out what the heck the economy truly looks like right now, and resorting to 'candle' indicators like Santa's bookings to shed a little light. It seems the fancy mall Santas are still mostly safe because stores see them as a way to 'drive traffic' and 'associate their brand with Christmas' – a 'loss leader' they call it, fancy that! But those private parties where Santa shows up with a sleigh-full of cheer, well, those are definitely getting cancelled left and right. People and companies are cutting back on these 'nice-to-have' luxuries, indicating a genuine tightening of belts out there in the real world.