We're not even through the month of October but Santa Claus has been spotted in a Southwest Michigan town.

Every year the rush from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas seems to accelerate. We blame corporate greed and retailers wanting to get a head start on the busiest shopping season of the year but sometimes there are other motives. The true spirit of Christmas brought Santa Claus to Hastings in October.

As I was scrolling through Facebook, I was shocked to see a photo of Santa Claus. I'm thinking it's one of "those" people, someone who can't wait for Christmas and already has their shopping finished before they buy the Halloween candy and will put the tree up on Thanksgiving after serving pumpkin pie. I was wrong. The Santa strolling the streets in Hastings was Jeremy Haight. I got in touch via Messenger and we talked on the phone about his choice of attire for October.

My family has been doing a tradition. We are full-out on Christmas, we do a display and stuff. It's my generation to dress up as Santa and bring people joy in life. So, I went to a school and saw kids with disabilities and made Christmas come to them.

-Jeremy Haight, Santa's Helper

Jeremy told me the best part of his day was the attention he got from people honking and asking for pictures as he walked around downtown Hastings spreading Christmas cheer. Usually, I'm a bit of a Grinch when it comes to Christmas this early but in this case, it's hard to argue with making people feel good and sharing smiles. Enjoy these photos from Jeremy's magic day as Old Saint Nick makes his first visit to Michigan in October.

Jeremy Santa bike
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Jeremy Santa soda machine
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Jeremy Santa school
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