To the delight of many children who are counting down the days until Christmas, Wareham Crossing hosted Santa and family-friendly activities during its annual Holiday Happenings celebration on Sunday, December 11.

Mall stores hosted family fun activities throughout the day, with Ol' St. Nick arriving early in the evening to light the mall's Christmas tree before settling down at Lowe's to hear children's wishes.

Santa arrived with much fanfare, blasting through the mall parking lot in the passenger seat of a Wareham Fire Department fire engine with sirens blaring.

Boston's Radio 92.9 was on-hand for the event. In encouraging the crowd of children to get excited for Santa as he stepped off the fire truck, a deejay noted: "Santa's fired up!"

After the tree lighting was complete and Santa had moved from the cold weather to a toasty area inside Lowe's, some children could barely wait to see the big guy. They tugged on their parents' hands as they moved up in the long line, which stretched down an aisle at the hardware store.

Santa doled out high-fives to children, shouting, "Hello, hello!" as they approached, some carrying wish lists to pass on to the man and his elves.

"I asked for an iPod Touch or an iPod Nano, [and] an American Girl doll," 12-year-old RiAnna Kenyon said with a smile after her sit-down with Santa.

RiAnna's sister, Ella, said she just wanted a cord to charge her Nintendo DSi handheld video game system.

"I lost it when we were camping [in July]!" the excited 7-year-old said.

Both little ladies said they'd been good this year.

All of the children departed with a twinkle in their eye and a candycane and lollipop -- early gifts from Santa.