The region is brimming with holiday attractions this season, from Center City’s extravagant affairs to the most humble of mall Santas.
But what about ones that skirt tradition and lean more into the humorous than the Yuletide?
Christmas House at the Deptford Mall combines nostalgia with irreverence for one of the region’s most tongue-in-cheek holiday experiences.
Stepping into the former Victoria’s Secret-turned-holiday-walking tour, guests are greeted by familiar faces like Buddy the Elf and Santa Claus, but they’ll also see a recreation of a Blockbuster video store; a drunk, passed-out Santa; and a reindeer stable where it looks like Donner and Blitzen pooped all over the place.
The tour starts at $25 per person, when buying in groups of four. There are at least nine rooms — not including the seven wacky “hotel rooms” in the back — within the Christmas House to explore at your own leisure or alongside a tour guide.
Ticket prices may prove too burdensome for many families, owner Peter Coyle said, which is why they offer a “No Families Left Out” program, where families can contact the Christmas House and discuss a name-your-price model.
The light tunnel at the Christmas House at Deptford Mall on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Deptford.
Coyle said the humor is meant to make adults laugh just as much as kids — hence why so much space is dedicated to nostalgia of the 1980s and ‘90s. Apart from a Blockbuster, which children certainly haven’t visited before, there are Easter eggs only adults will recognize, such as A Christmas Story’s sultry leg lamp — “Fragilé! It must be Italian” — and Red Ryder BB gun or a Griswold family photo from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
“We take the same approach as the creators of the Shrek movies,” Coyle said. “[Those movies] had a lot of fun things that kids loved, but then there were all these innuendoes and references that only adults could appreciate.”
Walking into the “Blockbuster Room” for the first time, adults let out a light chuckle that usually turns into some play-pretend as they reminisce on their former Friday night ritual, while teens who never got the chance to visit one can pretend they’re a ’90s kid for a change, Coyle said. It’s a pared-down Blockbuster with only four shelves of movies, but the store decorations and logos are close enough to feel like a cute homage.
The “Blockbuster Room” at the Christmas House at Deptford Mall on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Deptford.
Rita Giordano, 42, of South Jersey, was visiting the Christmas House with her mother, Denise Maloney, 70, and Giordano’s two sons, Richie, 9, and Charlie, 4. Together, they searched for Buddy the Elf hidden in each room.
“We got all of them!” Richie and Charlie said.
For mom and grandma, they were just happy to be enjoying the holiday spirit inside the Deptford Mall as opposed to the bone-chilling weather at outdoor attractions.
A Shrek room at the Christmas House at Deptford Mall on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025 in Deptford.
The Christmas House’s wackiest elements are sequestered in the back, where Coyle converted the former fitting rooms of the retail space into the hotel rooms of the “Holiday’s Inn.” The surprise of finding out what’s behind each door will have some bursting out laughing and others rolling their eyes.
There are tamer rooms like the “Hootel Room” — filled with artificial trees and owls — to a New Year’s Eve strobe-light room. A few backrooms go the extra mile, with one featuring Shrek taking a nap in a small bed, bundled up in Christmas and Shrek blankets.
In “The Santa’s Little Surprise,” the limits of guests’ potty humor will be tested. As soon as one walks up to the room, a large handprint and streak of brown substance are plastered on the door. The more one looks, the more fake reindeer poop on the walls and flooring can be found, with used toilet paper strung from the ceiling.
The “Santa’s Little Surprise Room” at the Christmas House at Deptford Mall on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Deptford.
Santa’s got his work cut out for him.
For parents trying to keep the Santa make-believe alive for a few more years, they may find the drunk Santa in “The Sleighed and Sloshed” room a little too over the top. Here, a Santa mannequin is laid out on the floor with crushed red Solo cups around him in what looks like Kris Kringle after a bender.
The “Sleighed and Sloshed Room” at the Christmas House at Deptford Mall on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Deptford.
There is good, clean fun in the “Harry Potter Christmas Room,” where a photo-op is staged with a broomstick, wizarding hats, and Hogwarts House-themed scarves. Venture into the “Elf Command Center,” where a Santa live tracker displays where Kris Kringle is currently dropping off gifts, and the little ones can write letters to Santa before dropping them in the giant mailbox marked for the North Pole.
The North Pole Movie Theater is usually playing Will Ferrell’s Elf on repeat throughout the day, and the final room features cotton snowballs, ready for harmless snowball fights, accompanied by an artificial snow machine.
The “Harry Potter Christmas Room” at the Christmas House at Deptford Mall on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Deptford.
“The best part for me was that it was indoors,” Maloney said. “The kids loved seeing Jack Skellington and the Grinch, plus they got me with the snowballs in the last room.”
Located inside the Deptford Mall at 1750 Deptford Center Rd., Deptford, N.J. 08096, the Christmas House is on the first floor, closest to the Boscov’s entrance and parking. Open weekdays from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. It runs through Jan. 2. christmashousedeptford.com/
Rabbi Mendel Mangel spoke Sunday during at an event celebrating the first night of Hanukkah.
The lighting of the menorah at Barclay Farms Shopping Center on Sunday was full of symbolism, not only for the holiday, but as Jewish people came together in the wake of a deadly attack on Australians celebrating the first night of Hanukkah.
“Light in the face of darkness is a lot of what Judaism is about,” one attendee said at the 32nd annual Hanukkah event, organized by Chabad Lubavitch of Camden County.
Roughly 100 people gathered on the snowy evening to show their support for those injured and killed earlier that day, while leaders, including Mayor David Fleisher, called for resilience.
“In a day like today, when there’s so much darkness, in the last year, too, and the pain and the suffering, evil, and cruelty — the message is that light can dispel all of that,” said Chabad Rabbi Mendel Mangel.
Santa has been making his way through the township, accompanied by the Cherry Hill Fire Department, and even snow and freezing temperatures couldn’t keep residents from running out of their homes to greet him or pose for photos. “Santa brings the spirit,” one said. The Inquirer’s Denali Sagner joined the big man recently for the beloved tradition.
The township has been awarded an $800,000 grant from the state’s Safe Streets to Transit Program for fiscal 2026. The funds, awarded last week by Gov. Phil Murphy, will support pedestrian improvements along Brace and Kresson Roads. The township isalready working on other roadway improvements for pedestrians. Last month, the county broke ground on a $7.5 million improvement project along Kresson Road between Browning Lane to Cropwell Road that includes upgrades to traffic signals, adding sidewalks and ADA curb ramps, and the installation of dedicated bike lanes.
Cherry Hill-based nonprofit Bancroft, which provides services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, has named its next president and CEO. Gregory Passanante, who has held roles at Shriners Children’s Hospital Philadelphia and Wills Eye Hospital, will starton Jan. 7.
Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital is among New Jersey’s 2026 Best Hospitals for Maternity Care, according to a new ranking from U.S. News & World Report released last week.
🏫 Schools Briefing
Science scores statewide in last year’s New Jersey Student Learning Assessments rose above pre-pandemic levels for the first time, according to an NJ.com analysis. In math and English language arts, however, scores remained below pre-pandemic testing levels. At both East and West, students scored below the state average in Algebra I. In Algebra II and Geometry, East students scored above state averages, while West students scored below. Most of the district’s elementary schools scored at or above state averages in two math categories. (NJ.com)
The Courier Post has identified two Cherry Hill East boys basketball players to watch this season: Chris Abreu, the “heart and soul of the Cougars,” and Jamieson Young, who made a splash during his inaugural season last year.
Reminder for families: Winter break begins next week with an early dismissal on Tuesday. Schools are then closed until Jan. 5. See the district’s full calendar here.
🍽️ On our Plate
Chef Greg Vernick is teaming up with fellow Cherry Hill native Meredith Medoway to open his latest restaurant, this one in Kensington. The restaurateur behind Vernick Food & Drink, where Medoway is chef de cuisine, and Vernick Fish is planning to open Emilia in early 2026. The neighborhood trattoria will have a seasonal menu that includes house-made pasta and live-fire cooking.
Several Cherry Hill steakhouses are among the best South Jersey spots to find a great steak, according to the Courier Post. The outlet noted that The Capital Grille is a “classy, upscale” option, as is fellow mall restaurant Eddie V’s Prime Seafood. Steak 38 and The Pub in Pennsauken also made the list.
Voorhees-based Saddlehill Winery recently opened a pop-up kiosk at the Cherry Hill Mall, where it has what director of wine operations and sales Julie Pierre calls a “secondary tasting room.” It will remain open for about three more weeks. (Patch)
🎳 Things to Do
💰 Estates Roadshow Buying Event: Have unwanted goods you think might be valuable? Buyers will assess your goods and make offers on the spot during this five-day event. ⏰ Through Friday, Dec. 19, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 💵 Free 📍DoubleTree by Hilton Cherry Hill Philadelphia
📚 Teen Winter Lock-In: Kids in sixth through 12th grade can hang out at the library after hours, reading, playing games, and eating pizza. Registration is required. ⏰ Friday, Dec. 19, 4:30-6:30 p.m. 💵 Free 📍Cherry Hill Public Library
🛍️ Curate Noir Holiday Market Pop-Up Expo: Snag last-minute holiday gifts at this two-day pop-up at the mall that features local small businesses. ⏰ Saturday, Dec. 20, 9 a.m.-10 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 21, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. 💵 Pay as you go 📍Cherry Hill Mall
🛼 A Grinchy Christmas Skate Party: A candy cane limbo and “steal the presents” relay highlight this skate party. ⏰ Tuesday, Dec. 23, 6:30-9 p.m. 💵 $2 admission, $6 skate rental 📍Hot Wheelz
This Erlton Cape Cod-style home packs a lot into a small space. The first floor has an updated kitchen with an island and a dining area adjacent to the living room, as well as a bedroom and full bathroom. There are two bedrooms and another full bathroom upstairs, and a finished basement downstairs. Outside, the home has a patio and covered porch, and there’s a fenced-in yard with two decks and an above-ground pool out back. There’s an open house Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
’Twas a few days before Christmas, and all through Cherry Hill, children were running outside with no jackets to chase Santa, and sometimes with no shoes.
Strapped to the top of a Cherry Hill fire truck, Santa Claus made his rounds through the South Jersey community on Sunday, waving as he passed through condominiums decorated for Christmas and snow-dusted cul-de-sacs. Santa’s firefighter escorts handed out candy canes and holiday greetings as Christmas cheer warmed the frigid township.
“There’s nothing better than when you pull around the block with Santa on the roof,” said Jim Aleski, a Cherry Hill Fire Department lieutenant.
Each December, Santa makes a special trip to Cherry Hill, meticulously visiting every street in the township over the course of the department’s multiday Santa Tour. A fresh coat of rare December snow made for a particularly picturesque scene over the weekend, when kids, parents, and dogs chased down the fire truck to get a coveted glimpse of St. Nick.
Mark Yakovich, 3, and his dad, Ed Yakovich, 44, flagged down the fire truck from their driveway as if they were hailing a cab. Mark, the toddler, is very into trains at the moment. Luckily, fire trucks remain pretty high on his list (specifically when they’re associated with Marshall, the Dalmatian puppy fire marshal in PAW Patrol). Holding two candy canes and a toy train, Mark eyed the fire truck with glee, and a healthy skepticism, from the comfort of his dad’s arms.
Though Ed Yakovich said they are still “figuring out the family traditions with the new little guy,” seeing Santa was at the top of their December to-do list.
At the Burrough’s Mill subdivision, Andrew Lee said he and his family wait for Santa every year. A bit of Christmas light amid so much darkness in the world was a welcome respite this time around, he said.
“Santa brings the spirit,” Lee said.
What is Lee’s son, Makai, 10, asking for this Christmas? An Xbox, Roblox, and more Roblox.
Ed Yakovich takes a photo of his wife Kendra McGarvey with their son Mark Yakovich, 3, as Santa, leaves after stopping at their home.
As the firefighting crew and its guest of honor wound through the township, delighted residents waved and cheered, stopped for selfies, and honked in appreciation. One resident ran out to gift a box of brownies to the firefighters.
Aleski said no one can quite pinpoint when the Santa Tour began, but residents say they remember the tradition happening as far back as the 1960s.
Archives show Santa visiting South Jersey via fire truck as early as 1931, when he distributed gifts to the children of Barrington on Christmas Day.
Sandy Chase, 54, said she remembers a Santa Tour from her childhood in northern New Jersey.
“This is a big Jersey thing,” she said.
Nicole Gaunt, 31, has lived in Cherry Hill her whole life. She and her daughter Khaos, 8, were out playing in the snow when Santa rounded the corner.
Gaunt said the duo were prepared to see the big guy.
“We’ve chased him down before,” she added.
Three-year-old Michele Peruffo pauses as firefighter Sam Harrison (left) walks behind a fire truck with Santa through the neighborhood.
Aleski said nothing drives community engagement like the Santa Tour. Each year, his department gets dozens of calls, emails, and social media inquiries about when Santa will pass by each house.
Though the department is meticulous in hitting every block, it’s a fire department first, and emergency operations supersede Santa. Santa has shown up at more than a few unexpected emergencies during tours past.
The Santa Tour in Cherry Hill will continue over the next few days. To see when Santa is visiting each neighborhood, explore this interactive map.
Firefighter Lt. Jim Aleski gives candy canes to a driver “stuck” behind the Santa fire truck.
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
MAYS LANDING, N.J. — After a week in court, attorneys delivered closing arguments Tuesday in the child abuse trial of Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr.
Defense lawyers for Small, a 51-year-old Democrat who was reelected this year, said the allegations that he and his wife had abused their teenage daughter multiple times in late 2023 and early 2024 were false.
“We are not guilty,” his attorney, Louis Barbone, told jurors in New Jersey Superior Court.
Small faces charges of endangering the welfare of child, aggravated assault, making terroristic threats, and witness tampering. He has denied the charges, and testifying in his own defense last week, he told jurors he “would do anything to protect” the girl and said he did not strike her with a broom as she has alleged.
Prosecutors say Small not only struck his daughter but also attempted to cover up the abuse as he and his wife, La’Quetta, grew increasingly in conflict with the teen over a relationship with a boy they did not approve of.
They said he punched her and beat her with a belt in addition to hitting her with a broom, and later told her to “twist up” her account of the incidents to investigators to minimize his involvement.
“Violence is not a solution,” Assistant Prosecutor Elizabeth Fischer told the panel. “Abuse is not parenting.”
But Small’s lawyer, Barbone, told jurors prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence to make their case and said they had inappropriately interceded in a private, family matter in the Small household.
“Why have we taken this man’s life and made a spectacle of it?” Barbone asked. “Because they can.”
He scoffed at prosecutors’ idea that the teen had been intimidated by her father’s political power, calling the trial “extortion by the child.”
The girl, Barone said, had lied about her injuries to both doctors and investigators, conspiring with her boyfriend to secretly record her father and compromise him.
Much of the attorney’s attention fell on the January 2024 incident in which Smalls’ daughter said he struck her multiple times in the head with a broom during an argument over her attending the Atlantic City Peace Walk.
Barbone said the girl had also been holding a butter knife and that as the mayor struggled with her over the broom, the teen fell and hit her head.
The attorney said the teen then exaggerated her injuries, and he said the bristle side of a broom couldn’t do damage. He told jurors to look no further than the testimony of the girl’s nurse, who could not rule that the teen suffered a concussion as she contended.
And Barbone returned to the topic of Small’s daughter’s sexually explicit messaging with her boyfriend, which prosecutors called a “shining ball in the corner” meant to distract jurors from both the teen’s testimony of the alleged abuse and the photos of her bruises.
Barbone said the conflicts began after the Smalls discovered their daughter had sneaked the boy into the family home and had sex without their knowledge. He later displayed an emotionally charged text chain between the girl and her mother in which the teen threatens to go off birth control.
Meanwhile, Fischer, the prosecutor, asked jurors to remember the “truth” of what Small’s daughter had endured. .
Fischer said the teen had been brave to testify against her father — arguably the most powerful figure in Atlantic City government — as well as her mother, who is the superintendent of Atlantic City Public Schools. La’Quetta Small also faces a child endangerment charge in a case scheduled for trial in January.
It was “the most difficult thing a person can do,” Fischer said of the girl’s decision to testify against her parents, giving her little incentive to lie.
The prosecutor said a nurse who tended to the girl’s injuries had diagnosed the teen with a head injury, and that it was impossible to tell if she was concussed through a CT scan alone.
And a pediatrician who specializes in child abuse testified that the girl’s injuries were “nonaccidental,” Fischer added.
Prosecutors said the girl first reported the abuse to her principal, Candace Days-Chapman. They say Days-Chapman, who previously served as Marty Small’s campaign manager, did not file a report with child welfare authorities. She instead told Smalls herself, and staff at the school only learned of the abuse after the teen reported it a second time after watching a mental health presentation. Chapman was later charged with official misconduct and related crimes.
Fischer, her voice swelling with emotion, expressed disbelief that Small had allowed his attorney to characterize his daughter as both an “animal” and “Tasmanian devil” in describing their conflicts at home.
“This is offensive at its highest level,” she said.
And she told jurors that some of those who testified on behalf of the mayor had strong ties to Atlantic City government and stood to gain from the mayor’s success. And in the end, she said, they had not witnessed the conflicts between Small and his daughter.
“Character,” the prosecutor said, ”is how you act when no one is watching you.“
Steven Spielberg wanted New Jersey drivers this year — now they’ll get to see the fruits of their labor on the big screen.
The first trailer for Disclosure Day, the lauded filmmaker’s new UFO movie starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, and West Philly’s own Colman Domingo, is out. The production was filmed in parts of South Jersey and Middlesex County earlier this year.
The premise: “If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? This summer, the truth belongs to seven billion people. We are coming close to … Disclosure Day.”
The trailer shows Blunt as a meteorologist who shudders as she experiences some sort of encounter live on air. It includes all the other good stuff: crop circles, deer who are absolutely shook by whatever extraterrestrial activity they’re dealing with, car chases, you know the deal.
“They tell me the movie is primarily about UFOs and some railroad scenes and car chases,” Woodbine Mayor William Pikolycky told 6abc during filming this spring.
The film worked under the code name Non-Viewwhile filming around Jersey. The original Spielberg sci-fi film has a screenplay penned by his longtime collaborator David Koepp (Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds).
Disclosure Day was spotted filming scenes in multiple locations, including Tuckahoe, Woodbine, Buena Vista, and Upper Township. Some scenes took place near railroad tracks in Tuckahoe, with state troopers shutting down roads near production sites at the time. Spielberg was also spotted directing a scene with stunt doubles. Locals observed production crews setting up with a large blue screen, likely for special effects work.
Producers sought locals to work as paid extras, working as background actors in their own cars in Middlesex County in March. The production brought a reported economic boost to the area, with over 150 crew members in town, some who visited local businesses. The New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission told 6abc at the time that major film productions are increasingly choosing the state as a location, citing its diverse scenery and financial incentives.
Just last month, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro announced HBO’s Task was awarded a $49.8 million tax credit for filming locally.
Universal will release Disclosure Day on June 12. It’ll mark Spielberg’s 37th directed film.
What have become the glacial remnants of a picturesque and a meteorologically unusual snowfall that tufted the trees and bushes with a cottony whiteness are likely to stay around for a few more days.
In what has been quite a chilly December, with not a single day of above-normal temperatures, readings tumbled into the teens for the second consecutive morning on Tuesday and not make it out of freezing in the afternoon.
Expect more ice and stealth “black ice,” re-frozen snow melt that forms on driveways, sidewalks and other surfaces, again Wednesday morning.
But if you’re getting tired of salting and chipping ice after those overnight freeze-ups, you’re about to get some help.
A warm-up is forecast to get underway Wednesday, and come Thursday, which is slated to be the warmest day since before Thanksgiving, the atmosphere is expected to train its snow-removal guns on the region.
Forecasters see a surge of snow-erasing warmth and a significant — and badly needed — rainfall Thursday night that should restore the landscape to a condition more familiar to Philadelphians and ease precipitation deficits.
As for the prospects of a winter-wonderland encore, nothing is on the horizon in the near term, said Nick Guzzo, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly.
Said Matt Benz, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc, “For folks looking for more snow, this might have been it.”
At least for now and perhaps until after Christmas, or later. But, “Winter’s not done yet,” Benz said.
Willow, a West Highland, is with Amanda and David York on a walk in Maria Barnaby Greenwald Memorial Park in Cherry Hill on Sunday morning.
The warmup in Philly is expected to be brief
Temperatures could go as high as 55 degrees Thursday, Benz said. Then after a cold front passes through, temperatures will fall during the day Friday.
This won’t be an Arctic front like the one that gave Philly its coldest day of the season on Monday, with a high of 28. However, the forecasts call for readings to be no higher than the 30s on Saturday, and mid-40s on Sunday, which is close to the longer-term normal high, followed by several degrees chillier on Monday.
What’s expected for the next two weeks
In its updated extended outlooks on Monday, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center had just about the entire country with above-normal temperatures through Dec. 29, with a notable exception — the Northeast, including Philadelphia.
Predicted upper-air conditions in the Arctic and the North Atlantic would argue against above-normal temperatures around here during the period, climate center forecaster Thomas Collow said.
Regardless of what happens the rest of the way, the winter of 2025-26 will be snowier than at least seven others in the period of snow records that date to the winter of 1884-85.
The 4.2 inches measured officially at Philadelphia International Airport Sunday is a half-inch above the long-term average for the season to date.
Granted almost any substantial snowfall would seem exceptional these days around here, but this one truly was, said the weather service’s Zach Cooper, a meteorologist in the Mount Holly office.
Most of Philly’s significant snows are the result of coastal storms that mine moist air from the ocean.
That wasn’t the case Sunday.
”In some ways it was a bit of a unique situation for us, especially to get the amounts that we did,” he said.
The snow was generated by a weak “clipper system,” a storm that dives out of southwestern Canada and usually has minor impacts around here, and a disturbance in the upper atmosphere.
Totals generally ranged from 4 to 8 inches across the region. Totals were less around the city in part because temperatures took their good, old time dropping below freezing.
Marginal temperatures also were a factor in the spread of accumulations. They added some extra weight and heft to the flakes that glommed on the branches and what remains of the foliage with tenacity.
While the show will have a limited run, the region learned anew that snow and ice may be a pain, but nothing decorates like nature.
The Philadelphia region’s first snowfall of the season ended up having quite a March-like quality.
Totals generally ranged from 4 to 8 inches, but the snow literally was so heavy that the average shoveler may have had a hard time discerning the difference.
“When I was shoveling my car out, it felt rough,” said Michael Silva, meteorologist at the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly. Silva lives in Mount Laurel, where an unofficial 7 inches was reported.
The snow was so weighty because it had a high liquid content, the result of temperatures close to the freezing mark, as so often happens in March. The borderline temperatures also would help explain the range in accumulations, he said.
The snow glommed onto the trees, weighing down branches. In fact it took down a branch outside the Mount Holly office that damaged a federal car (sorry, taxpayers).
The highest amounts, just over 8 inches, were recorded in Chester and Bucks Counties.
Officially, at Philadelphia International Airport, where temperatures didn’t get below freezing until midmorning Sunday, 4.2 inches was measured.
By contrast, Boston has measured only 3.1 inches so far.
Here are the snowfall totals posted by the weather service as of 10 a.m. Monday.
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Philadelphians awoke to the first significant snowfall of the season on Sunday, with 3 to 7 inches of snow blanketing the area.
And although the worst of the snow was over, high winds and increasingly dangerous icy conditions will be moving in, forecasters said.
While temperatures were in the upper 20s on Sunday afternoon, they’ll be very different when commuters set out on Monday morning.
“We are expecting a pretty strong blast of Arctic air moving in,” leaving temperatures in the mid-teens, said Alex Staarmann, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly.
With snow on the ground and temperatures below freezing, Philadelphia schools will be opening two hours late Monday.
Archdiocesan high schools and parish and regional Catholic elementary schools in the city will also operate on a two-hour delay. (Catholic schools in suburban counties generally follow their local districts’ lead.)
“The safety and well-being of our students are our top priorities,” Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. said in a message to district families. “We are encouraging students, families and staff to travel safely tomorrow morning.”
Students who arrive late because of weather challenges won’t be marked late, and weather-related absences will be excused if a parent or guardian sends a note.
While some plowed streets and shoveled sidewalks may have been cleared by Sunday afternoon, cold winds Sunday night into Monday morning may blow a thin layer of snow back onto roads, Staarmann said.
Winds are forecast to pick up, from 10 to 20 mph, with gusts up to 35, he said. That could make for dangerous conditions.
“If there’s any slush or snow melt on the roads or pavement from today, it certainly could refreeze if it’s not treated,” he said.
Totals for the storm, which hit the area around 11 p.m. Saturday, slightly exceeded earlier forecasts of 3 to 5 inches. Areas north of the city, like Doylestown and the Trenton airport, saw closer to 7 inches.
“This snow is generally a wetter snow,” Tyler Roys, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, said. “It’s heavier to move. It’s not easy as if it were fluffy snow. This one is going to take a little work.”
Workers clear snow from sidewalks in the Old City neighborhood on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025.
Colder air will follow on the heels of the snow system, with Monday morning temperatures hovering in the teens.
An early morning accident and a downed utility pole had eastbound traffic on Rt. 70 in Cherry Hill down to one lane Sunday morning, Dec. 14, 2025, during the first significant snowfall of the season with 3 to 7 inches of snow blanketing the area
Icing will be an issue until temps rise later in the week.
At the height of the storm, more than 26,000 Peco customers experienced outages across the region, said spokesperson Matt Rankin.
By late Sunday afternoon, around 3,000 customers remained without power. Crews were out working to get power restored to customers as quickly and safely as possible, Rankin added.
SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch said crews would be monitoring for icy or dangerous conditions as the temperatures fall.
Eagles fans traveling on the Broad Street Line reported some significant delays shortly before kickoff, with at least one train reportedly stalled for 15 minutes near the Walnut-Locust station, passengers said. Busch said the temporary slowdown and crowding had been due to a train being pulled out of service near Erie Avenue, but that the situation had been resolved.
At the stadium, tailgaters were not deterred by the snowy conditions.
Fans make their way into the stadium before the Philadelphia Eagles game against the Las Vegas Raiders at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025 in Philadelphia.
“It’s been great,” said Jim Carroll, of Warren County, N.J., sipping a pregame beer in the parking lot outside the Linc with friend Jim Singer. “Brutally cold, but setting up for a big Eagles victory so it’s all good.”
It was still snowing when Robert Rodriguez and Victor Sierra of Burlington County, and their family members, arrived hours before game time.
Sure it was cold, said Rodriguez, a season ticket holder for over 25 years. But he wouldn’t miss for it any amount of snow.
“The beauty of it’s perfect,” he said, nodding toward the snow-capped stadium in the distance.
An usher clears snow from the seats before the Philadelphia Eagles play the Las Vegas Raiders at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025.
Philadelphia International Airport was experiencing heavy delays with the effects of the storm, with over 182 flights delayed and 17 cancellations, said airport spokesperson Heather Redfern.
With planes being deiced for takeoff, departing flights were experiencing delays of about 38 minutes, Redfern said.
The airport briefly halted ground traffic earlier Sunday morning, as crews tended to icy conditions.
Monday afternoon is forecast to be warmer but still below freezing, with temperatures in the mid to high 20s.
Without much snow melt by Tuesday morning, dropping overnight temperatures could mean more trouble for some commuters for a second day.
“That could still produce some spotty black ice or refreezing of snow melt,” Staarmann said.
Higher temperatures on Wednesday should help remaining ice and snow to melt.. But AccuWeather senior meteorologist Chad Merrill said changing weather conditions later in the week could pose a problem for some regional commuters: A new front may bring rain Thursday night into Friday morning.
“Sometimes when you have this Arctic air mass that lingers, even though the temperatures are going to warm up this week, the ground is still very cold,” Merrill said.
That’s a recipe for a different challenge.
“So, there is some potential that when this front comes through Thursday night and Friday morning, that there could be some limited visibility due to fog,” Merrill said.
Mike and Alexis Butler with children John, 8, and Julie, 6, find a small hill to sled on in Wallworth Park in Cherry Hill after the sun came out Sunday afternoon.
ATLANTIC CITY — The journey through Atlantic City is bumpy these days, and not only because Atlantic Avenue is desperately in need of paving.
Ducktown Tavern owner John “Johnny X” Exadaktilos has one wish for Atlantic City that has nothing to do with the gut-jarring avenue that runs in front of his bar.
“Just normal,” says Exadaktilos. “I just want things to be normal.”
Atlantic City, a place of historic mayoral misdeeds, multimillionaire overreach, and chronic unwanted attention, has managed in this waning year, even as its workers string up holiday decorations, to come up with a new plot twist: Its newly reelected Democratic Mayor Marty Small Sr. is on trial for alleged physical abuse of his teenage daughter.
The trial has left Small untethered from his cell phone as new casinos have been green lit in New York City, and the state moves to tighten its authority over the town. Another trial, of Small’s wife, La’Quetta Small, who is the superintendent of schools, is set for Jan. 12.
With Small reporting to an Atlantic County courthouse each day to face his daughter, who spent seven hours testifying against him on Tuesday, a bit of a hush has fallen on the city as it awaits the outcome, which could come this week.
The sentiment in City Hall, where many employees owe their jobs to Small, leaned toward the assumption that Small would beat this charge like he’s beaten two previous indictments on voter fraud charges.
But will the city emerge unscathed?
“Every day, people who live in Atlantic City want to know what those of us are elected are doing to make their lives better and respond to their issues and concerns,” said council member Kaleem Shabazz, who was going from a planning board meeting to a mayor-less City Hall last week. “Whatever will happen will happen. The city still has to function. People have to be responsible.”
On Dec. 1, as Small readied for jury selection in Mays Landing, New York City approved three casinos, two for Queens and one for the Bronx, a development long feared in Atlantic City.
On Dec. 5, with the jury picked, the iconic Peanut World on the Boardwalk erupted in flames. On Dec. 9, with the mayor listening to his daughter, legislators in Trentonwere proposing more state oversight of A.C. including a surprise provision that would give the state the power to pick developers for major projects.
The biggest threat may come from the New York casinos, which some in the industry estimate could threaten as much as 30% of A.C.’s business and lead to the shuttering of one casino, if not more.
Small could face jail time and be forced to step down as mayor under New Jersey law, if convicted. He and his wife, who has been attending her husband’s trial, taking notes in the back, have resisted calls to relinquish their powerful roles as mayor and superintendent.
“It’s not ideal obviously,” said Shabazz. “If you had to pick a multiple choice question what would you want to be happening in your public schools, that wouldn’t be something you would pick, if you’re a parent or a taxpayer.”
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small and his wife, Superintendent of Schools La’Quetta Small, chat before the start of arraignment on Oct. 10, 2024. Mayor Small stood trial last week in Mays Landing. Cameras were barred from the courtroom during the trial.
‘A wake-up call’
Early one morning last week, having just come from a planning board meeting, Shabazz said the city was going about its business. “I’m not at the trial, I’m on my way to City Hall,” he said. “The work of government has to go on.”
Shabazz, who’s been focused for years, even decades, on some of the same intractable problems of the resort, remains optimistic. It’s a city where it can be hard to read the scorecard: progress seems to be there, but not there, at the same time.
The city’s only full-size supermarket, the beleaguered Save A Lot is under new management, and the adjacent nuisance liquor store is expected to close. High-profile developers like Jared Kushner and K. Hovnanian appear to be going forward with residential projects in the city’s Inlet section. There are new restaurants, like the Byrdcage in Chelsea and Simpson’s, relocating next month to Atlantic Avenue.
Shabazz is hoping the state will return zoning authority back to the city after years of the Casino Reinvestment Control Authority overseeing planning and zoning in the city’s tourism district.
Kaleem Shabazz, president of the local chapter of the NAACP in Atlantic City, and Maryam Sarhan, a community organizer, stand in front of mural honoring civil rights leaders. “The city still has to function,” he said, while its mayor is on trial for alleged child abuse. “People have to be responsible.”
But last week, as the mayor listened to his daughter testifying that he struck her in the head with a broom, after she threw detergent at him and refused to go to a community march, the state went in the opposite direction: a bill to renew the state’s takeover of Atlantic City for another six years that would allow the state to pick a “master developer” to oversee big projects, the Press of Atlantic City reported.
“We have to be competitive,” Shabazz said. “We have to let people know that we’re open for business and we’re safe and secure. Crime is down significantly.”
Like others interviewed, he believes Atlantic City can sell itself as a safe and affordable seaside destination. “We still have a free beach,” he said. “We have to let people know what we have.”
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small arriving for his arraignment before Judge Bernard DeLury at the Atlantic County Criminal Courthouse in Mays Landing on Oct. 10, 2024. Small testified in his own defense Friday during his trial. Cameras were barred from the courtroom.
Small has defended himself by describing this latest situation as a private family problem, not related to his job performance. He has called the prosecution politically motivated and an overreaction. A jury will now weigh in.
John Boyd Jr., a principal in the Boyd Co., which advises companies on where to locate, said many developers (and homeowners) continue to balk at Atlantic City, despite the upward pressure on Jersey Shore real estate that has left the city as arguably the last affordable seashore town in the entire Northeast.
He called the three New York City casino licenses “a wake-up call” for New Jersey, and advocates a plan where the state allows casinos at the Meadowlands and/or Monmouth Park but shares the revenue with Atlantic City.
“If you ask national developers their opinion of Atlantic City, it wouldn’t be a very positive one for a myriad of reasons,” he said.
“Good governance is fundamental to economic development success. Companies want to minimize risk. It’s more than the mayor being on trial. It’s the uncertainty.”
Meanwhile at the slots
Inside Hard Rock casino during a blustery stretch last week, people were three deep at the holiday-branded Mistletoe Bar in the lobby, and nine guitars had become a menorah in the atrium.
Gamblers were locked in as names were called for a random spin-the-wheel drawing every half hour. A convention of real estate agents brought lines to the check-in desk. The trial was off in the distance, invisible to most.
“I do love coming to Atlantic City,” said Adam Druck, 33, a Realtor from York, Pa. “I hope the trial doesn’t make too much difference to what’s going on here.”
Asked about New York casinos, Joe Pendle, 71, a retired police officer from North Jersey, said he was comfortable with his routines at Hard Rock, where free rooms and meals anchored his pleasant stays. (Hard Rock itself has one of the three licenses in New York City, an $8.1 billion project near Citi Field in Queens, which it projects will result in $1 billion a year in tax revenue.)
“I have a three-room suite upstairs,” noted Pendle. “I like the beach.”
Arthur Austin, 70, of Old Bridge, said he had worked for decades on Wall Street and had no desire to travel to New York for a casino weekend.
“I worked in the city for 20 years,” he said. “I only go into the city if I have to.”
Adam Druck, 33, of York, Pa., and Eric Moeller, 36, of Reading, inside Hard Rock casino on Dec. 9, where they were staying as part of Triple Play Realtor Convention and Trade Expo in Atlantic City.
Out-of-towners like Austin hadn’t heard about Small’s trial, but the local gamblers at Hard Rock sure had.
“Atlantic City is a crooked place, and it’s always gonna be crooked because of what everybody’s into,” said a 57-year-old woman who lives locally and was playing the slots. She did not want her name used so that she could speak her mind in a small town.
“People want their guy to stay in there,” said the woman. “He gives everybody a job. You could flourish, but only if you are with the right people.”
“I don’t think that it hurts Atlantic City,” said Seng Bethia, 40, of Atlantic City, who was at the slots. “His daughter is such a sweet girl. It was bad, just the whole thing.”
‘Are you kidding me right now?’
Exadaktilos, the Ducktown Tavern owner who is Small’s loudest detractor, said he had taken things down a notch of late, putting aside his popular weekly Facebook live rants that he said had started consuming him.
Still, last week, as the prosecution wound up its case, the city sent out a contractor to do some temporary filling in of cracks on Atlantic Avenue in advance of the city’s holiday parade, and Exadaktilos found himself back on Facebook live.
“Are you kidding me right now?” he said over footage of the roadway. “What happened to Atlantic Avenue is going to be paved? Horrible.”
Boyd, the location consultant, points to bright spots. The national developers are a vote of confidence, as is the Septemberopening of the SeaHaus boutique hotel on the Boardwalk, a Marriott property. Showboat and the Sheraton near the Convention Center are converting rooms to residences.
Boyd sees potential for Atlantic City to follow the likes of Coney Island, which has seen a renaissance, to attract film business, to market itself as a live-work-play destination.
Outgoing council member George Tibbitt looks at the Kushner plan, a 180-unit apartment complex, as another missed opportunity. “No vision there,” he said. “That’s desperate development.”
“New York City definitely makes me afraid,” said Tibbitt. “There’s only so many gambling dollars to go around. Adding more casinos is going to be devastating. We have to clean the city up. We have to get the neighborhoods filled back up.”
One industry the city bet heavily on was cannabis: Its midtown quickly filled with 16 dispensaries. But after complaints from the cannabis entrepreneurs themselves, city council capped the number at 16, leaving many that have been approved but have yet to open (including one that necessitated the demolishing of a historic church) in limbo.
Atlantic City is a place where things can seem to be finally coming together, while simultaneously unraveling. Big plans vaporize, like the highly touted gym and nightclub outside Showboat, where last summer, the owner set up couches, DJ booths, and exercise machines, got stalled by permitting issues, and quietly dismantled them.
Miguel Lugo, general manager at AC Leef, which held out for a strategic spot on Albany Avenue, said his cannabis business has been good. He looks forward to the dispensary running financial literacy classes for the community, and getting its cultivation license.
“On this side of the town, everything’s been phenomenal,” Lugo said. “I’m super focused on AC Leef. I don’t know what’s going on with the mayor.”
I was so close. If I had made it through one or two more green lights while driving from my last assignment… Or if I had not waited so long for the “right” car to pass in front of the building I was photographing for a real estate story…
Then I might’ve been there seconds earlier when Gen. Washington stood at the back of his SUV placing his sword on the hip of his dress uniform. Or photographed him walking through the empty parking garage.
Instead, I arrived at the elevators seconds after he did.
Historical interpreters Benjamin Franklin (from left) Gen. George Washington and President Abraham Lincoln are in the audience as the U.S. Mint unveils new coins for America’s 250th birthday.
There isn’t a day that goes by that I am not reminded how photography is all about the timing. And I don’t mean just the 1/500th of a second your camera shutter is open.
There is an expression “f/8 and be there” often attributed to legendary photographer Arthur “Weegee” Fellig. The “there” has come to mean not fussing over the technical aspects — an f-stop/lens aperture — of taking pictures but instead being “in the moment.”
Weegee, however, meant it literally. He was a New York crime scene photographer in the 1930s and 1940s famous for arriving before the police and made his living getting there and taking a picture before his competition (there were a dozen newspapers and tabloids in Manhattan back then).
Another “good timing” came for me last Saturday. I was in Center City with my family on my day off. There were so many people in the Christmas Village in LOVE Park we walked along the outskirts, where we found the annual Festibus competition. That’s where SEPTA employees volunteer their time to decorate buses for the holidays and compete for bragging rights. And let riders vote for their favorites among the eight decorated buses parked along JFK Boulevard and 15th Street.
I made a fast photo of SEPTA workers costumed as Care Bears who went over to a passing coworker stopped in traffic. But I couldn’t leave with only a photo of the backsides of mechanic Raymond Borges and operators Jose DeCos and James Smith.
So I stayed behind to document more of their greeting visitors and some of the other buses.
Walking out of the garage where the artists were working, I heard a news helicopter and looked up, then over to see a column of smoke rising to the north.
I got there as firefighters were just starting to climb up to the rowhouse roofs on North Lambert Street.
The fire, near La Salle University, was placed under control within an hour. But sadly, a 70-year-old mother of three did not get out in time and died in the blaze.
Since 1998 a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in the print editions of The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:
December 8, 2025: The Benjamin Franklin Bridge and pedestrians on the Delaware River Trail are reflected in mirrored spheres of the “Weaver’s Knot: Sheet Bend” public artwork on Columbus Boulevard. The site-specific stainless steel piece located between the Cherry Street and Race Street Piers was commissioned by the City’s Public Art Office and the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation and created and installed in 2022 by the design and fabrication group Ball-Nogues Studio. The name recalls a history that dominated the region for hundreds of years. “Weaver’s knot” derives from use in textile mills and the “Sheet bend” or “sheet knot” was used on sailing vessels for bending ropes to sails. November 29, 2025: t’s ginkgo time in our region again when the distinctive fan-shaped leaves turn yellow and then, on one day, lose all their leaves at the same time laying a carpet on city streets and sidewalks. A squirrel leaps over leaves in the 18th Century Garden in Independence National Historical Park Nov. 25, 2025. The ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) is considered a living fossil as it’s the only surviving species of a group of trees that existed before dinosaurs. Genetically, it has remained unchanged over the past 200 million years. William Hamilton, owner the Woodlands in SW Phila (no relation to Alexander Hamilton) brought the first ginkgo trees to North America in 1785.November 24, 2025: The old waiting room at 30th Street Station that most people only pass through on their way to the restrooms has been spiffed up with benches – and a Christmas tree. It was placed there this year in front of the 30-foot frieze, “The Spirit of Transportation” while the lobby of Amtrak’s $550 million station restoration is underway. The 1895 relief sculpture by Karl Bitter was originally hung in the Broad Street Station by City Hall, but was moved in 1933. It depicts travel from ancient to modern and even futuristic times. November 17, 2025: Students on a field trip from the Christian Academy in Brookhaven, Delaware County, pose for a group photo in front of the Liberty Bell in Independence National Historical Park on Thursday. The trip was planned weeks earlier, before they knew it would be on the day park buildings were reopening after the government shutdown ended. “We got so lucky,” a teacher said. Then corrected herself. “It’s because we prayed for it.” November 8, 2025: Multitasking during the Festival de Día de Muertos – Day of the Dead – in South Philadelphia.November 1, 2025: Marcy Boroff is at City Hall dressed as a Coke can, along with preschoolers and their caregivers, in support of former Mayor Jim Kenney’s 2017 tax on sweetened beverages. City Council is considering repealing the tax, which funds the city’s pre-K programs. October 25, 2025: Austin Gabauer, paint and production assistant at the Johnson Atelier, in Hamilton Twp, N.J. as the finished “O” letter awaits the return to Philadelphia. The “Y” part of the OY/YO sculpture is inside the painting booth. The well-known sculpture outside the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History was removed in May while construction continues on Market Street and has been undergoing refurbishment at the Atelier at the Grounds for Sculpture outside of Trenton.October 20, 2025:The yellow shipping container next to City Hall attracted a line of over 300 people that stretched around a corner of Dilworth Park. Bystanders wondered as they watched devotees reaching the front take their selfies inside a retro Philly diner-esque booth tableau. Followers on social media had been invited to “Climb on to immerse yourself in the worlds of Pleasing Fragrance, Big Lip, and exclusive treasures,” including a spin of the “Freebie Wheel,” for products of the unisex lifestyle brand Pleasing, created by former One Direction singer Harry Styles.October 11, 2025: Can you find the Phillie Phanatic, as he leaves a “Rally for Red October Bus Tour” stop in downtown Westmont, N.J. just before the start of the NLDS? There’s always next year and he’ll be back. The 2026 Spring Training schedule has yet to be announced by Major League Baseball, but Phillies pitchers and catchers generally first report to Clearwater, Florida in mid-February.October 6. 2025: Fluorescent orange safety cone, 28 in, Poly Ethylene. Right: Paint Torch (detail) Claes Oldenburg, 2011, Steel, Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic, Gelcoat and Polyurethane. (Gob of paint, 6 ft. Main sculpture, 51 ft.). Lenfest Plaza at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts on North Broad Street, across from the Convention Center.September 29, 2025: A concerned resident who follows Bucks County politics, Kevin Puls records the scene before a campaign rally for State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, the GOP candidate for governor. His T-shirt is “personal clickbait” with a url to direct people to the website for The Travis Manion Foundation created to empower veterans and families of fallen heroes. The image on the shirts is of Greg Stocker, one of the hosts of Kayal and Company, “A fun and entertaining conservative spin on Politics, News, and Sports,” mornings on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT.September 22, 2025: A shadow is cast by “The Cock’s Comb,” created by Alexander “Sandy” Calder in 1960, is the first work seen by visitors arriving at Calder Gardens, the new sanctuary on the Ben Franklin Parkway. The indoor and outdoor spaces feature the mobiles, stabiles, and paintings of Calder, who was born in Philadelphia in 1898, the third generation of the family’s artistic legacy in the city.September 15, 2025: Department of Streets Director of Operations Thomas Buck leaves City Hall following a news conference marking the activation of Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras on the Broad Street corridor – one the city’s busiest and most dangerous roads. The speed limit on the street, also named PA Route 611, is 25 mph.
