Four year old Abby Buchanan rides along with Rudolph . . . or maybe some of his kin on Chatham Hospital’s float Monday night. The two were paired up to ride the streets of Siler City at the annual Christmas parade. Folks from the area crowded Chatham Avenue to watch the parade and wait for Santa to roll through.

Despite chilly temperatures, hundreds of people lined the streets of downtown Siler City Monday night.

Friends and families gathered to see the annual Christmas parade, which began at 7 p.m.

Siler City Chief of Police Lewis Phillips led the parade, followed by mayor Charles L. Turner.

Over 45 entries strolled down Chatham Ave. in an effort to kick-off the holiday season.

The local hospital, schools, churches, businesses, organizations, law enforcement, fire departments, rescue squads and many others participated in the event.

Antique cars, such as Bel-Airs, Novas and Corvettes, took many on-lookers on a trip down memory lane.

"It takes me back to my high school days," said one woman in the crowd.

Jordan-Matthews, Central and Northwood marching bands entertained the crowd with Christmas music, while Teen Work youth organization danced in the streets.

Several fathers and mothers waved as their sons and daughters passed in Boy Scout and Girl Scout Troop floats.

Smokey the Bear, accompanied by the North Carolina Forest Service, came out of hibernation to walk in the parade.

Habitat for Humanity has been given a gift in an unusual way.

The group was recently at a loss when attempting to approve residential affordable housing in Pittsboro. The only problem was one residents are all familiar with: lack of sewage allotment.

But East West partners had allotment to give. And they did.

The Chapel Hill company is in the process of developing Powell Place, a multi-use development that will be built in Pittsboro. The group donated enough sewage allotment from their project to let Habitat for Humanity build theirs.

The Habitat project is planned as six units of affordable housing off of Cornwallis Street in Pittsboro.

In coming before the town commissioners to get approval for their project, they were told there were no utilities for the buildings planned, said Amy Powell, Executive Director of Chatham County Habitat for Humanity.

"That’s where East West came in," she said.

East West Partners had paid the town a substantial amount of money to ensure that enough of the town’s sewage capacity would be reserved for their development, said Bryson Powell, project manager for Powell Place.

People cannot escape the inevitable over the holiday season: shopping. Everywhere, it seems, people rush about with Christmas lists, many starting the day after Thanksgiving, deemed "Black Friday" in the retail world.

Shops in the county prepare for the holiday season in various ways, but one thing many agree on is that holidays mean higher number of customers and more sales.

According to the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association, many retailers make one-quarter of their annual sales revenue in the last six weeks of the year.

Furthermore, they project that holiday sales are expected to increase 5.7 percent nationwide this year.

"Some are bubbly and excited," said Lib Jones, store manager of Tyler’s in Siler City, of the customers during the holiday season.