VIDEO: Middletown Santa Tour 2010

Santa's tour through Middletown resumes tonight, picking up with "Day 4" on the schedule after Santa took the soggy wet weekend off to catch up on some pre-holiday preparations back at the North Pole.

Aided by local elves—off-duty members of the Middletown Fire Fighters Association, IAFF Local 1933—the third annual Santa Claus tour through Middletown launched last Wednesday night from the with a tractor pulling the big guy's sleigh and public safety escorts fore and aft.

With Santa's actual team of reindeer back at the North Pole brushing up on the latest in levitation technology and familiarizing themselves with any recent changes in FAA regulations before Christmas, Santa's firefighter elves had fashioned several stand-in tinsel reindeer to his sleigh for the simulation exercise.

After leaving the fire station, the motorcade makes its way through Middletown streets accompanied by vintage holiday tunes and chirping sirens to clearly announce Santa's arrival from blocks away.

The slow-moving procession stops as parents and children run from their homes to meet Santa and receive a premium candy cane.

Weather permitting, the firefighters will continue to escort Santa through local neighborhoods for a total of eight nights. Santa and his team of off-duty firefighter elves are out-and-about each night between 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. The tour will continue until all neighborhoods have been visited before Christmas, noted MFFA organizer Steve Rodrigues. 

Schedule changes or cancellations due to weather or other reasons are announced here on Patch's homepage.

Check back daily in the Middletown Patch Calendar Events listings for the daily schedules or visit the town website too.

To see the complete daily scheduled for Santa's Sleigh, view or print the PDF schedule and daily maps available here at upper right.

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Wondering where to send Santa letters?

National Geographic recommends mailing them to: Santa, North Pole, AK 99705.

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When Santa's not in Middletown, keep daily tabs on his North Pole pre-Christmas preparations here:

NORAD provides a daily Santa countdown to Christmas with new updates from the North Pole complete with Santa updates, videos, activities and games for kids each day throughout December.

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Google Earth Christmas Eve Santa Tracker:

On Christmas Eve, click here to track Santa's exact whereabouts on Google Earth, courtesy of NORAD.

NORAD, the bi-national U.S.-Canadian military organization that keeps the skies over the United States and Canada safe, tracks Santa's movements carefully to ensure everything goes smoothly on Santa's big night.