Jovial Swedish Santa, or "Jultomten" To Open New Ikea December 7th

Ottawa- After years in the making, the new Ottawa Ikea store will be opened to the public for the first time December 7th by none other than Santa himself, or as he is known in Sweden, "Jultomten". Bearing ingeniously and efficiently packaged gifts for the children, Jultomten is planned to emerge from out of the 400 foot deep children's area ballroom to ceremonially cut the ribbon and officially open Canada's largest Ikea showroom.

Known for his somewhat creepy Scandanavian holiday behaviour and bizarre gnomish attire, the Ikea Jultomten will silently stalk children throughout the store, pouncing on them brandishing a large, candy allen key in a traditional Swedish manner. Sending children screaming from his presence, Jultomten will then devour raw meat from a freshly butchered goat while singing traditional Swedish yuletide hymns.

Ikea Canada President Olaf Eriksson will be present during the opening ceremony and hopes the addition of Jultomten will add some holiday excitement to the event. "Jultomten is a wonderful character from Sweden who I think will be remembered by the children in attendance for years to come." Eriksson remarked. "He is sometimes feared because traditionally he eats children on Christmas Eve, so we thought the raw goat meat would be a safer alternative for the Canadian children who may not be accustomed to Scandanavian folklore." replied Eriksson.

Jultomen will then take his place on his Christmas throne, which is a modified "Larskrat" chair and take excited children onto his knee where he will regale them with stories of ogres, witches and the Christmas goat before handing them their very own candy allen key to take home.

Eriksson looks forward to sharing some Swedish culture with the excited Ottawa shoppers, and hopes to make Jultomten an annual holiday tradition. "The highly anticipated opening of the new Ikea in Ottawa is expected to draw thousands of Christmas shoppers on our opening day, and with the addition of the jovial Jultomten, it is sure to bring more."