Shopping On Christmas Eve? Why Not?

Shopping at Broadway Plaza on Christmas Eve turned out to be not so bad.

People strolling the walkways at the downtown Walnut Creek center on Tuesday said the sunny weather, the relatively small crowd and the helpful employees made for a pleasant afternoon.

Between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. at the center Tuesday, there was a steady but not overwhelming crowd. About half were women and about half were men.

One of the shoppers was a woman named Jennifer, who drove to Broadway Plaza from Orinda to get the bulk of her shopping done on the final day before Christmas.

She said she had planned to shop before Christmas Eve but just got busy and didn't get around to it.

"It was kind of quiet today," she said. "I expected more people would be here."

Jennifer went to Nordstrom, Barnes & Noble and See's Candies. Before heading home, she was sitting on a bench near See's.

"I kind of enjoyed it, but I'm ready to be home now," she said.

Resting on a bench near the plaza's large holiday tree was Doug Parrish of Montclair.

He said he and his wife had intended to shop before Christmas Eve, but they likewise were too busy.

Surrounded by Neiman Marcus bags, Parrish said the afternoon was actually enjoyable.

"The weather was nice, people were happy and the employees in the stores were helpful," he said.

Back near the now-closed Yogurt Park, a woman named Rebecca from Orinda had picked up a few stocking stuffers on Tuesday afternoon.

However, that wasn't her prime reason for being at the center.

She and her sister, who was visiting from Las Vegas, had brought their children to get a photo with Santa Claus.

It's a family tradition. It's the 11th year in a row the Vegas family has come up to make the Christmas Eve pilgrimage to Santa's booth.

There were eight children between the ages of 2 and 11 waiting for their Santa picture and all of them seemed happy.

"This is the best place to get a Santa picture," said Rebecca's sister.

The sister, however, was not doing any shopping. She's finished hers and she doesn't like to go into stores at the last minute.

"I'm very anti-shopping this close to Christmas," she said.