Monday, December 25, 2006

Christmas at Carolina Circle Mall

Of all the malls at Christmas time, Carolina Circle Mall was always the best.

Montgomery Ward would always give out Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer goodies around Christmas. That's because in the 1930s or 1940s, Montgomery Ward created the story of Rudolph. I've still got a couple of Rudolph books they gave me at the Carolina Circle Mall Montgomery Ward.

In the mall corridor outside of Montgomery Ward, there was this colorful little Christmas village/maze set up. When I was little, I'd always make sure I had the chance to walk through it. That thing was awesome and is voted number one in my Carolina Circle Christmas book.

Of course, Santa Claus himself would be there. I believe he was normally located on the second floor across from Waldenbooks. I remember either Christmas 1993 or 1994, watching WFMY News 2 and seeing Santa's sleigh flying across Carolina Circle Mall. Recently, I discovered it was merely a parchute. But still cool.

In Christmas of 1994, Santa gave me a "Night Before Christmas" book. Earlier this month, I found the book and it brought back memories. On the back of the book, it has the Carolina Circle Crescent emblem and the mall's address. Apparently, the stamp was made before early 1994 because the area code was still "919". It was 910 when I got the book later that same year.

That's an actual Christmas wreath I found in the rubble of the mall behind the fence during the demolition back in August of 2005.

Merry Christmas from Carolina Circle City.

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