With barely enough time left to load the sleigh and get the reindeer ready for takeoff, Santa Claus is finally on his way back to the North Pole, after spending the past month in Greenville, giving away presents and posing for pictures at Nennie’s Cafe.

According to Santa, who sometimes goes by the name Kris Kringle, he was only supposed to spend Thanksgiving weekend in Greenville, as he was visiting family on his mother’s side.

“I was visiting my brother, Ken Whitson, who lives on Temple Road,” Santa said with a wink. “I only planned on staying a couple of days.”

Santa said that the morning he was suppose to return to the North Pole, he decided to visit Nennie’s first, for a hot cup of coffee.

On the way, Santa said, he looked through a magic snowball that he made from fresh snow on the ground, to see who in town had been naughty and who in town had been nice. Upon seeing that none of the children in town had been naughty, but all of them had been nice, Santa said he knew he had to stay a while.

“I came [to Nennie’s] the Saturday after Thanksgiving and have been coming back every weekend since,” Santa told the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript. “There’s a ton of kids in this town.”

Santa said he decided to spend a little extra time in Greenville because he wanted to spread Christmas cheer and somehow lighten the load of parents who are struggling financially.

Annette Gallagher, who owns Nennie’s Café, considers Santa’s arrival a blessing from above.

“I see it as a miracle,” said Gallagher. “All the people he made smile in this economical time. It was amazing.”

“Lots of people are laid off here,” said Santa Claus, who cancelled many engagements at the various malls around the world so that parents in town could take pictures of him with their children, free-of-charge.

“Who’s going to go the mall to pay for pictures when they can come here and take pictures for free?” asked Santa Claus, who was also giving away small gifts from his huge red sack of toys to the children.

Since his arrival in town, Santa said he has been well received by the residents, with many of them stopping by to say hello or beeping their horn as they drive past the café.

“I was seeing smiles on people’s faces who were in cars from inside my restaurant,” said Gallagher.

Santa said he prefers to greet residents outside the café, even though the weather has been frightful.

“Good long johns are the key,” said Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. “If you don’t have them, you can’t handle it out here.”

Gallagher said that Santa even found time to visit the people who live at Greenville Falls and they were delighted at his impromptu visit.

“Some of the elderly people asked Santa if they had been naughty,” said Gallagher. “He brought a lot of life into this Christmas for me.”

Just before he took off for the North Pole, Santa said he had an engagement in Milford that he promised to attend. “I have to go to the Mojo Dog Center,” he said. “My dog goes there and I’m marching in the Christmas parade.”

Right before he left, Santa said he wanted to remind all the children that he sees them when they’re sleeping and he knows when they’re awake.

“Tell them to behave,” he said.

This story appears on Page 1 of the Dec. 24 Ledger-Transcript.