Who says Santa works just one night of the year?
He was on the job Christmas Eve in the Richmond area, and his first stop was the Cisternino house in the Mechanicsville area — home of 3-year-old Addison and 6½-year-old Anthony.
"Ho, ho, ho, Addison and Anthony!" Santa said as he led a brown-and-white mixed-breed dog named Barry across the front yard.
Barry immediately started sniffing and exploring his new home — the yard, the bushes, the kids and their mom, Nikki Cisternino.
"He likes us a lot," said Anthony.
Addison puckered up and gave Barry a mouth-to-snout kiss.
Working on behalf of the Richmond SPCA, Santa made deliveries — five dogs and a kitten — to five families.
At the Cisternino house in the Berry Pointe subdivision, everybody felt Christmas joy.
"When that little girl kissed that dog, tears came to my eyes," said Santa, who on off-duty hours goes by the name Paul Carr of Richmond (and the North Pole).
Nikki Cisternino said she saw Barry's face on the SPCA's website. The three-member family visited Barry on Tuesday and fell in love with him.
"It worked out really well," she said.
There is a widespread belief that pet adoptions over the holidays are made on impulse and often don't work out.
But Robin Robertson Starr, the Richmond SPCA's chief executive officer, said the group's records from recent years don't support that.
"In fact, holiday adoptions have a little bit lower return rate than adoptions the rest of the year," she said.
This was first year Santa delivered pets for the SPCA. "If Santa is willing," Starr said, "we're going to keep on doing it."
The look on the kids' faces — and on Barry's face, too — said it's a tradition worth keeping.
"He kissed me on the nose," said Anthony.
"He kissed me on the lips," said Addison.
rspringston@timesdispatch.com
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