{"id":6302,"date":"2011-12-23T10:00:29","date_gmt":"2011-12-23T15:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=6302"},"modified":"2011-12-23T10:01:57","modified_gmt":"2011-12-23T15:01:57","slug":"santa-sighted-in-unionville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=6302","title":{"rendered":"Santa sighted in Unionville!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jolly man in red seen on Rt. 82, reports suggest he was getting ready for the big day<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Ned McPeak<\/strong>, North Pole Bureau Chief, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

This man, dressed in red, was seen this week in and around Unionville. A number of local residents suggested that he is Santa Claus and was in town to make final checks before the big day.<\/p><\/div>\n

EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 After sightings of a mysterious man in red \u2014 and no few complaints about his sled and reindeer taking up multiple parking spaces at the Unionville Post Office, local residents seem convinced that the one and only Santa Claus was in town making final checks before the big holiday.<\/p>\n

In fact, this reporter encountered an individual dressed entirely in red as he appeared to be checking off various lists and addresses. He spoke very briefly \u2014 just long enough for the reporter to snap a picture with his phone before moving on quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cAm I Santa Claus?\u201d he smiled. \u201cLet\u2019s just say I know who is on the naughty list and I\u2019d hate to see you added, son.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that, he was off in a flash, but without confirming or denying his identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt in mind it was him,\u201d said Leslie Gooding, a local resident who claims to have encountered the man while he bought reindeer feed at the Unionville Feed Store.<\/p>\n

There were also isolated reports of students at Unionville Elementary School claiming to see the man \u2014 and incredibly, they suggested he was flying his sled.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, it was Santa,\u201d said Susie Brannon, a second-grader at UES. \u201cWho else flies through the air with eight reindeer?\u201d<\/p>\n

But not everyone was thrilled to see him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was impossible to park at the (Unionville) post office,\u201d said Nash DeViatro, another local resident. \u201cHe had to be taking up four or five parking spaces \u2014 and those spaces are at a premium. And let\u2019s be honest, reindeer aren\u2019t the sweetest-smelling animals, either, so even if you could park, it wasn\u2019t exactly ideal. I wish he\u2019d just parked at the firehouse, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

Local police officials were mum on the reports, although they noted higher than usual reports of activity involving men in red suits accompanied by reindeer.<\/p>\n

Santa Claus is expected to make his return to the area Saturday night, sources say, although apparently, only those homes where everyone is asleep. Local officials are cautioning parents that children should make sure they\u2019re tucked in bed early, just in case.<\/p>\n

From all of us at The Unionville Times:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

A very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jolly man in red seen on Rt. 82, reports suggest he was getting ready for the big day By Ned McPeak, North Pole Bureau Chief, UnionvilleTimes.com EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 After sightings of a mysterious man in red \u2014 and no few complaints about his sled and reindeer taking up multiple parking spaces at the Unionville […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[160,159,24],"class_list":["post-6302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-christmas","tag-santa","tag-unionville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}