BY MICHAEL DEVLIN

HE dresses in red. He has a long white beard. He's friends with a reindeer called Rudolph. He has pink rosy cheeks and a special sparkle in his eye and he's flat out every Christmas time delivering presents to all the good girls and boys all over the world. Can you guess who it is yet?

The Man in Red himself, otherwise known as Father Christmas or Santa Claus, called into the Strabane Chronicle office this week to reveal that this is going to be one of the very best years – ever – for all the girls and boys of Strabane. And how does he know? Because he's Santa and he knows that so very many of the youngsters around Strabane have been very well behaved this year.

"It's going to be a great year," Mr Claus began. "It's going to be very tiring for me, what with all the goodies I have to deliver. I'll have to be out and about early if I'm going to get all the presents delivered on time.

"Rudolph and all the lads are in great form, so once they're fed on Christmas Eve, we'll be off."

Santa is also asking all the young girls and boys to make sure they go to bed early on Christmas Eve, as he won't be able to deliver the presents otherwise.

"I'm going to be flat out flying all around the country on my sled," Santa explained. "So I won't have time to hang around at homes waiting for the little ones to get to sleep. Make sure you get to bed early because I don't have time to wait."

However, Santa is also asking children in Strabane and district if they could leave out a "little something" for himself and his hard-working reindeer before they go to bed this Christmas Eve.

"Ho, ho, ho," he laughed. "Anything will do. I like shortbread or any biscuits and Rudolph is always fond of carrots. Maybe a glass of milk would be nice too."

"I'll have a bit of a nap and then I'll eat Christmas dinner and maybe watch some TV," he says. "I'll be tired but if everything goes well, it'll be worth it.

"Have a great Christmas and don't forget to get to bed early."