Holiday prematurity. It's Fall's downside. Instead of basking in the early-morning delight of a time change, or the shovel-free mornings and easy commutes, we rush towards distant holidays with hasty fervor, tinseling the tree even before those dang Tootsie Rolls have disappeared from the Halloween candy leftover pile.

It's the two-month-long holiday binge I've come to call: HallowThanksgivingMas.

And I've learned not to fight it. Instead, I just try to go with the holiday flow. Ride a mashed potato cloud all the way to Christmas.

In that spirit comes Santacon 2009. You may recall the Santa force from last year (Here comes Santacon, there goes Santacon )

Santas from all over Southern Maine will congregate for an evening of good cheer and bar loitering, beginning at 4 pm December 5th at Empire Dine & Dance in Portland. The spirited parade will continue through downtown, with pitstops along the way for refueling and belly jiggling.

Maybe it's too early to think "Santa."

Maybe Thanksgiving has earned its due too and is sick and tired of being treated like a forgotten middle child who's forced to invent a fake boyfriend name George Glass just to get a bit of airtime.

Or maybe it's just a tryptophan speed bump on the way to Santatown.

For more of the Santacon details, see the Portland Santacon event page on Facebook.