Santa greeted by countless smiles as he rides through Montclair (Photos)

You can't blame Santa for being a little late. He's very busy this time of year.

The official word from Montclair Township officials is that Santa's drive through town on a Montclair fire truck was postponed from Saturday, Dec. 18 to the next day because of inclement weather. But this is a man who circles the globe on a single night in on open sleigh, making his way through scorching deserts and arctic storms alike.

It seems much more likely to us he was catching up on back issues of Montclair Local to decide who had been naughty and nice this year. But we're confident all those young smiles Santa saw Sunday were worn by Montclarians who had made the "nice" column.

Santa waved as the fire truck left Montclair Fire Headquarters at 1 Pine St., headed to the South End, went north through mid-town and uptown Montclair and looped back to the fire department headquarters. His entire trip took about two hours — fire trucks, unlike reindeer, have to obey local speed limits.

Photos by Shane Paul Neil / For Montclair Local