The "Black Friday" showing — and shopping days to come — might not be as grand this year, a survey for the Deseret News and KSL-TV found.

Just over half of residents this year say they're spending less on Christmas. Twenty-four percent of residents said they'll hit the pre-dawn sales this year. That's even though 30 percent of those surveyed said they typically take advantage of the early sales.

Still, the first holiday shopping sales might bring a new convert. Tooele resident Priscilla Hahn says she might join scores of others, shivering in the early morning air until the store doors fling open. The reason to join Black Friday crowds, to her, is clear.

"To save money — everything's cheaper," said Hahn, pushing her infant son in a stroller through Fashion Place Mall. "My husband and I are trying to be better at sticking to (our) budget."

The Dan Jones & Associates survey of 406 Utah adults was conducted Nov. 20-22. It had a margin of error of 5 percent.

As the economy slides into recession, home prices continue to plummet, bankruptcies and foreclosures remain heightened and thousands of jobs are lost, it's no surprise that a little more than half of Utahns say they're going to spend less on Christmas this year.

Yet cash on hand isn't the biggest issue. While 38 percent said they are cutting back on shopping because they have less money to spend, a much larger 45 percent said it's because of uncertainty about the future.

Some people noted that their kids are grown, and they don't have grandchildren, or they're doing a big house project, or they would rather give to charity.

The responses don't surprise Kelly Matthews, an economist and executive vice president for Wells Fargo in Salt Lake City. But the respondents' answers are somewhat concerning for the larger picture.

"It's a pretty difficult situation, and so it would be very normal and anticipated that people would consider ways of being a little bit more careful. (But) that brings up a sort of dichotomy," Matthews said. "What I just said is very, very appropriate in terms of an individual person or individual family in terms of financial decision making. But ... what we need from the economic policy perspective is for people to be borrowing, buying, spending, hiring, investing — all those things that make our economy vibrant and growing."

Murray resident Dede Smith started holiday shopping earlier this year — about a month ago — but the goal wasn't to cut back, necessarily.

"I think I'm shopping smarter. There's a lot you don't need," Smith said. "I'm trying to filter out a lot of the nonsense."