Santa in the Modern Age: Do reindeer really still do it all? What about those digital trackers, all those books depicting the red-suited man with a beard with moose, or transporting himself Star Trek-style? Or all the ways that he has used to get to Woodstock, as has happened traditionally in the “world’s most famous village” each Christmas Eve?

Granted, the big Ulster County celebration of Mr. Claus takes place on the earlier side, leaving plenty of room for his gift-giving self to get back home and work out his own methodologies for delivery through the long global night ahead. People tend to start gathering around sunset, finding parking where they can and trying to get the kids to the Village Green, where stuffed stockings will be made available for everyone after the jolly fellow’s arrival and expected go-ahead.