BEDFORD FALLS, N.Y. — Giddy with anticipation for his favorite holiday of the year, local 8-year-old Tommy Frye stayed up all night this Veterans Day Eve just to catch a glimpse of a veteran climbing down his chimney with presents of freedom and sacrifice.

“I knew it! I knew veterans were real!” the child ran through the house yelling in excitement after he saw a scruffy beard and pair of Oakley sunglasses peep out of the fireplace. “All the kids at school said they were fake and that only little babies believed in veterans, but I knew they were wrong.”

According to tradition, every year a veteran flies around the world at night in a C-130 and HALO jumps into the chimneys of all the good little freedom-loving girls and boys. Children everywhere leave a plate of fresh-cut Skoal and a glass of warm Rip-It out as a thank you for all the gifts that The Veteran brings them.