Waking up to find Waterford’s ‘Traveling Santa’ is on your front porch is like getting a tiny jolt of Christmas spirit
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“There were so excited,” said Nicole Elliott after her children found the Santa figurine on their front porch as they left for school.
As has become the custom, Elliott posted a photo of the kids with the Santa and then secretly passed on the figure.
Begun by Teresa Gallea, Santa has been making his way around the village for the past several weeks, popping up on porches, selfies and Facebook posts.
“This world is pretty crazy,” said Gallea. “I wanted to spread some good cheer.”
She sought out a sturdy battery-operated Santa that didn’t need to be plugged in and attached a laminated note.
“Ho-ho-ho! Merry Christmas! I am Traveling Santa! Please keep me for 24 hours and take me to someone else’s house.”
The note also encourages the finder to snap a photo of Santa and post it to a popular Waterford Facebook group.
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It ends by instructing whoever gets Santa on Christmas Eve to tuck him away until next year when he can begin traveling again.
“Let’s have some fun, Waterfordites!” wrote Gallea.
It turned out she needed to refine some of the instructions so people could get a sense of what part of town Traveling Santa was visiting and be urged to show him with kids, pets and Christmas trees, but the project has turned out just as Gallea hoped .
“People are loving it. He’s been all over the place, even to the countryside. There’s been no negativity at all.”
She said her favorite posting so far is Santa with some cats.
“All I wanted was to spread some cheer and my intention is to get another one next year so we can have two of them traveling around.”
And if Santa happens to return to Gallea’s front door on Temperance Street?
“I’ll just send him on,” she said.
@EXPSGamble
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