Early Saturday morning, just as he was getting ready for the 20th annual Greater Scranton Jaycees Santa Parade, Jacob Muracco received an unexpected phone call.
It was the big man himself - Santa Claus.
"He said that I had been good this year," Jacob, 6, a Scranton resident, said while quickly adding that Santa's assessment was correct.
Jacob was among the hundreds of people lining streets in downtown Scranton.
They cheered loudly in the cold air while watching marching bands, floats, and giant balloon characters playing limbo underneath traffic lights and utility lines. They listened to Christmas music. Mostly, however, they came to see Santa Claus.
Lexi Pliska, 10, said on a scale of one to 10, her excitement for Santa stood around an eight.
"I'm not really all that young anymore," said Lexi, of Jermyn.
Her sisters Lily, 12, and Bella, 9, had to disagree.
"I'm a 10," Lily said. "I just love Santa Claus."
Moscow resident Patricia Johnson, 65, said she enjoyed seeing the variety of groups in the parade, from the Scranton Fire Department to Scranton High School to Jack Williams Tire.
"And the balloons - the kids love the balloons," she said.
But as for Jacob's mother, Jennifer Muracco, 28, she just loved watching the parade with her son.
This has been a yearly tradition for her family, she's been taking him ever since he was a newborn. She hopes it is a tradition that will continue long into the future.
"I just love watching the parade through him," she said.
Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, @jkohutTT on Twitter