A Portland, Ore.-area man was stunned after thieves drove up to his front door, snatched several packages, and dashed away.

The incident happened all in a matter of minutes and it was all caught on camera.

ABC Affiliate KATU caught up with the victim, who identified himself as “Mark” because he didn’t want to share his true name.

Mark said he was tipped off the FedEx man was walking up his driveway last Friday when his two dogs started barking.  He tried calming the dogs, allowing the delivery man time to leave. A few minutes later when Mark went outside, the packages were gone.

What did remain was a trail of dog waste in the shape of footprints.

Confused, Mark consulted his home surveillance video and found that less than two minutes after the FedEx delivery man left, a car pulled up his driveway.

The grainy video shows a white woman with long blond hair jumping out of the passenger side of a decade-old Chrysler then snatching the packages and driving off.

The whole incident took less than 15 seconds.

“It was really well planned,” he told KATU.  ”Just amazed at how brazen this person was, to come down the driveway and snatch it like that.”

Lt. Steve Alexander, public information office for the Multnomah Co. Sheriff’s Office, says the theft is an isolated incident and they are still reviewing the surveillance tape for clues.

“Hopefully by putting this video out there the public will know who they are,” said Alexander.  ”It’s pretty brazen to drive right up and up and steal a package.”

When reached by phone, a FedEx spokeswoman expressed regret about the stolen packages.

“Porch pirating” reaches epidemic proportions around the holiday season. ABC News Correspondent Neal Karlinsky reported in December on thieves stealing presents right off front porches and coast-to-coast surveillance cameras catching them in the act.

The Postal Service estimates $16.5 billion in merchandise will be shipped in the month before Christmas, everything from computers to gift certificates. Karlinsky found that it’s not too hard to find waiting packages just sitting on porches, often for hours or even days.

To prevent future thefts, the FedEx spokesowman suggested that a shipper require a signature or send your package to a FedEx retail location and for pick up there.

The tree has been trimmed, the presents have been placed beneath it and chestnuts are roasting on an open fire as you relax and sip eggnog.  But  one item seems to be  missing from the holiday scenario this  season: a traditional branch of mistletoe hanging in the doorway.

A  massive drought in Texas is no doubt  a major contributing factor in the mistletoe shortage this year.

The  Texas drought has been described as one of the most crippling in the state’s history. Throughout October, parts of the Lone Star state, along with Oklahoma and Louisiana, experienced 50 to 70 percent “exceptional drought,” which is the worst form.

This has caused  much of this year’s mistletoe — a hemi-parasitic plant that grows on a wide range of host trees – to look weak and colorless. A higher price tag for the plants, coupled with dire economic times has led many to pass on this traditional holiday symbol.

Gardel Prudent of Gardel’s Greene Garden told The New York Times that it would have cost approximately $5 for a finger-size sprig, and that the profit margin is so thin that it’s not worth selling. He did not order any mistletoe this year, he said.

Still, many florists said that  despite the steep price, demand for the specialty plant is just not what it used to be.

Perhaps  the kissing under the mistletoe custom — which originated in Scandinavia –  has become dated and will soon become history.

“It does seem to be fading out,”  said longtime florist Georgeann Strakosch of Big Apple Florist in New York. “Even when I was at a place that had it we didn’t sell it much.

“They don’t move very quickly,” Strakosch continued. “I don’t get a lot of requests, maybe two calls a year.” Strakosch  no longer stocks mistletoe, and she’s not the only one.

“I stopped selling it a couple of years ago. I don’t get a big call for it,” Lee Herman of Palace Florists in Washington, D.C. told ABC News. “The wholesale isn’t that expensive, but to throw out a bunch of boxes is. It’s Dec. 22, and I’ve only gotten one call for it.”

“I think it’s losing its story, fading out a little,” a clerk at Ballard Blossom Inc. in Seattle   told ABC News. “We don’t carry it. … Two people have asked for it out of hundreds we help each day.”

• Grinches tossed the baby Jesus from a nativity scene onto a homeowner’s driveway and battered other decorations in a subdivision in Milton, Ga.
• In Port Charlotte, Fla., someone knocked over a lighting display in the shape of a Christmas tree and wreaked other havoc in a couple’s front yard.
• And at a Fairfax Station, Va. home, surveillance cameras captured footage of two young men using baseball bats and their car to destroy holiday decor, causing at least an estimated $6,000 in damages.

Watch footage of vandals in action below and see the full story on “20/20″ tonight at 10 p.m. ET.

Chad Coleman/Bellevue Reporter

ABC News’ Melissa Morrissette and Kevin Dolak report:

A Washington mail carrier is fighting back after he was told by a supervisor that he is no longer allowed to wear a Santa Claus suit while delivering the mail.

Letter carrier Bob McLean has been donning the Saint Nick costume for the holiday season while on his route in Bellevue, Wash. for over a decade. Now a supervisor has told him that he is no longer allowed to spread his brand of holiday cheer, alleging that a complaint was filed that he is not wearing official post office attire.

“The government is shutting me down because it’s a non-postal regulation uniform,” McLean, who has been working with the postal service since 1971, told The Bellevue Reporter.

McLean, who wears a white beard and has crisp white hair, said that he began wearing the costume when he was told by that he looks a bit like Kris Kringle. Since then he has delighted residents while delivering the post, even causing traffic jams as motorists try to get a peek. He regularly visits the Aegis Living of Bellevue senior center as Santa, and at Bellevue’s most popular Christmas attraction, Snowflake Lane, people lined up to take photos with him.

But this year he was told that he must stop, and he’s not taking the news sitting down. USPS spokesman Ernie Swanson said the complaint came from a fellow carrier; McLean says that he believes it may be management’s decision, but he is unable prove it. No one has come forward and said they had a problem with his costume, he told ABC News.

McLean told said that the first reason that he was given for not being able to wear the suit was safety, followed by the fact that it was not a proper uniform. Finally a direct order came down, which he says he couldn’t disobey.

“This was the first time; I don’t know what happened. I don’t step on anyone’s toes,” he said, adding that dressing as Santa isn’t religious to him, “it’s secular. It’s about giving.”

His union has now filed a grievance over the matter, and will have a meeting Thursday morning to discuss the matter, th0ugh he expects it will get stonewalled until after the holidays.

Meanwhile, he continues to wear the Santa hat and will also wear thermo and white gloves on Saturday.

“I am wearing it no matter what,” McLean said, adding that he has even noticed supervisors watching him to make sure he doesn’t wear the suit while he delivers mail.

Despite the setback, McLean says that he still has his Christmas spirit, which he says his supervisors can’t take it away. On Christmas eve he says he plans to ride up and down Bellevue Way, waving to residents as he usually does in his red PT Cruiser, dressed like Santa.

Homeowners in Hudsonville, Mich., have been singled out for displaying what an anonymous letter-writer calls “pagan” lights and decorations on their properties.

On Wednesday night, residents of Vintage Drive found a letter attached to their mailboxes suggesting that anyone with Christmas lights or decorations should re-think their beliefs, because Christmas displays honor the “Pagan Sun-God” and do not pertain to the birth of Jesus, according to ABC News affiliate WZZM.

The letters start out on a friendly note, with “Hi Neighbor, you have a nice display of lights.” But the self-described “love note” quickly changes tone, explaining how the “pagan tradition” of putting up lights began.

“I laughed because I think it’s ridiculous that people would get upset over Christmas lights,” said Danette Hoekman, who received the letter.

Besides speaking against holiday lights, the note claimed that the use of mistletoe, wreaths and yule-logs were in no way representative of Christmas.

Those who received the letters said they do not know who wrote them.

“It’s a sin to judge other people and to tell people that if they have Christmas lights they are pagans. We’re not pagans, we go to church regularly, my kids go to the Christian school,” Hoekman said. “I think next year we should put on a huge display!”

ABC News affiliate WZZM contributed to this report.

Some  might call it cutting out the middleman. The police call it theft.

A group of youths stole two bags’ worth of donated toys from St. Helen Catholic Church, in Pearland, Texas, during Mass on Sunday, police said. A similar theft had occurred at Mary Queen Catholic Church, in nearby Friendswood,  said police.

“You’d think toys for the needy would be safe at a church,” said Lt. Onesimo Lopez of  the Pearland Police Department.

Lopez, who belongs to St. Helen, said parishioners had been leaving brand-new, unopened toys at a designated area in the church’s foyer to be given to needy children at Christmas. There was an estimated $600 worth of toys in the two bags, he said.

According to a police news release, just before 11 a.m. Sunday, two girls and a boy were filmed outside the church by surveillance cameras. After Mass began at 11 a.m., the suspects were seen entering the church and walking out with the two large bags. One bag was being carried by a girl whom police estimated was between 8 and 10 years old.

They were also seen panhandling outside the church, with at least one woman giving them money.

The video shows the trio getting into a gold Chrysler minivan with tinted windows and no front license plate.

Police suspect they are part of an itinerant group of thieves targeting holiday toy donations, Lopez said. The kids didn’t look familiar to the priest or anyone else police interviewed, he said.

Lopez said no similar burglaries had occurred during the holidays in recent years. The last time police caught itinerant thieves was last summer, when two men and a woman were arrested for stealing from cars outside day care centers, he said.

Lopez said none of the tips called in had proved useful.

(ABC News)

Objection sustained.

In Dothan, Ala., a courthouse Christmas tree decorated with photos of violent-crime victims has been moved, days after a local defense attorney filed motions that trials of clients of his, scheduled for next week be deferred until after the holidays, when the display would be gone.

“Tree was removed by DA,” wrote Billy Joe Sheffield in an email to ABC News. Sheffield had argued the tree, which had been put up by a victims’ rights organization called Victims of Crime and Leniency, might bias jurors against his clients.

Neither the District Attorney nor anyone else had made any announcement about moving the tree, Sheffield said. He speculated an editorial in yesterday’s Dothan Eagle (which wasn’t on the paper’s website) supporting his position may have prompted the move.

“I heard the Assistant District Attorneys moved it Sunday,” he said.

A reward poster for an inflatable Santa and penguins stolen from an Indiana man. On Sunday, the Santa was returned with $100 and a note of apology. (Photo credit: Jason McClaren)

An Indiana man had some of his faith in the holiday spirit stolen from him when his 16-foot Santa and two 6-foot inflatable penguins were swiped from his property last week. But at 5 a.m. on Saturday, Jason McClaren awoke to his longtime girlfriend Abbie telling him there was a large black bag in the driveway.

McClaren pulled his car up to the bag in the dark and shone the headlights on the large lump. When he opened the bag, he was surprised to find his missing Santa, $100 and a note of apology.

The note began with “Dear Jason” and read:

“Within this package is your Santa as well as some money to help buy decorations for your home. Returning your property is the right thing to do, and apologies for the thief who took it in the first place. Hopefully this can help to remedy any issues this caused you and your family. Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays.”

McClaren was shocked. He had made fliers and offered a $400 reward for the missing items, but didn’t expect the decorations to be returned.

“We got it back. It’s the same one,” he told ABCNews.com. “There’s one little hole in the head, but it’s holding air.”

The two penguins, however, are still missing in action.

McClaren has had items stolen from him in the past and has four surveillance cameras on his property. The cameras were off the night the Santa and penguins were stolen and the cameras did not capture the return of the Santa.

“The holiday season is about giving and caring,” McCarlen said. “It’s surprising that someone would come up here and take it, let alone on Christmas.”

He has ordered an additional 12 cameras and has no plans to stop putting his decorations out.

“We’re going to keep doing it,” McClaren said. “In today’s age, everyone’s got surveillance and eventually you’ll get caught or someone will speak up.”

McClaren said his 2-year-old son Trey had been upset when the large Santa disappeared from the family’s lawn, but was excited when he saw it back in its rightful place.

“He got out of the truck and he didn’t know it was there and said, ‘Santa back,’” McClaren said with a laugh.

ABC

“I’m not trying to be Scrooge here,” said an Alabama defense attorney who wants his cases postponed until a courthouse Christmas tree decorated with photos of violent-crime victims is removed.

“I have four Christmas trees in my own house,” Billy Joe Sheffield II, of Dothan, Ala., was quick to point out.

He believes the tree — decorated with photos of victims — jeopardizes his clients’ right to a fair trial.

The tree was put up by the local chapter of Victims of Crime and Leniency, a statewide organization that supports crime victims and seeks to balance victims’ rights against those of defendants, according to its website.

“If I was on a jury, and on my way into the courtroom I saw a Christmas tree and a display with the words ‘against leniency’ alongside pictures of murder victims, I might be influenced,” Sheffield said. (The “a” in VOCAL stands for “and,” not “against,”  a mistake that an Internet search showed to be common enough,  even appearing in the Dothan Eagle’s Dec. 1 article on Sheffield.)

“No one would want a sign outside a courtroom saying, ‘DNA has exonerated these 2,000-plus people,’ with their photos,” Sheffield said — or a Mothers Against Drunk Driving poster outside a DUI trial, he said.

Sheffield filed motions that “10 to 15″ trials scheduled for next week be deferred until after the holidays, when the display would be gone. Judges have already denied several of the motions, which he has renewed, he said. Other motions have yet to be decided, he said, adding that  ”two [trials] are probably going forward.”

“I had to put something on the record” that might bolster an appeal on jury-bias grounds if one of his clients is convicted, he said.

Sheffield has not asked that the tree be removed, saying,  ”I’m a longtime supporter of VOCAL and have donated money to them.”

“I just don’t think a pro-D.A. organization  – one that’s funded by the D.A. — should turn a Christmas tree into a statement against leniency,” he said. In 2009 the Dothan Eagle ran an article that, quoting state records,  said VOCAL received $167,000 from the Houston County District Attorney’s office in 2007-08.

Houston County D.A. Douglas A. Valeska’s online bio says he is chairman of the board of VOCAL.

Pat Jones, the founder and president of the Southeast Alabama chapter of VOCAL, said the display would not bias jurors, the Eagle reported.

“I just think he … wants the month of December off or he ain’t ready for his cases,” the article quoted her as saying.

“Anyone who knows me knows I’m extremely prepared,” Sheffield said. “Pat knows me well. I know her well. I’d assume she knows that’s not accurate.”

Sheffield said he “wasn’t sure” what precedents other such cases had set, and that this was the first time he’d faced the issue. In the past, VOCAL had erected Christmas trees in front of the courthouse but never in the lobby, he said.

“Case law and the Constitution are pretty clear: An individual is presumed innocent until proven guilty. That’s why jurors aren’t allowed to read press reports,” Sheffield said.

Sheffield said he was strictly a paid attorney, not a court-appointed defender.

“We’re not cheap,” he said. “You’d expect your attorneys to preserve your rights. I’m just trying to do my job.”

Robin Robinson, an anchor at Fox Chicago, responded to a segment about managing gift expectations of children during Christmas by saying that they should know there is no Santa Claus.

“Stop trying to convince your kids that Santa is Santa,” Robinson said to co-anchor Bob Sirott during a segment Tuesday night. “That’s why they have these high expectations. They know you can’t afford it, so what do they do? Just ask some man in a red suit. There is no Santa.”

A bewildered Sirott responded, “Hey, Ebenizer, what’s with you?” a reference to Ebenezer Scrooge, the Christmas-hating star of “A Christmas Carol.”

The station was flooded with angry responses to the segment, with parents demanding an apology.

Robinson, who has been on the station since 1987, apologized to her audience the following day on a segment called “The Talker,”  which shares reader opinions. Robinson read many of the Facebook posts that angry parents wrote to her about the comments, noting that she did not realize that children would still be awake for the 9 p.m. broadcast. She apologized multiple times.

“It was careless and callous to say…what I said, in what could’ve been mixed company,” Robinson said. “So many kids don’t get to be children, that for those who do get to live the wonder and magic of Christmas, I would never spoil it intentionally. So I sincerely apologize.”

Robinson then went out onto the street to tell passersby about her goof, getting live reactions from them about how terrible it was. She finished by reading a letter published in the 1897 New York Sun entitled “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus,” and apologizing again.