While Sloatsburg celebrated the arrival of the Christmas Train Saturday for a bit of gift giving and holiday cheer, the streets of New York City ran red with thousands of Santas fully enjoying Santacon 2011.

Santas of all shapes, sex and sizes arrived on foot and by car and train to take part in what has become a world-wide phenomenon, with some 225 cities in nearly 35 countries participating. The arrival of so many Santas in the city, mostly for mischief and lots of merriment, goes by many names — Naughty Santa, Santapalooza, Santa Rampage, or the one mentioned most throughout the day, Drunk Santa.

As the Santacon website says, “We do not pout. We do not cry. We are jolly.” The event occurs once a year for “absolutely no reason.”

From Times Square to Grand Central Station or the Brooklyn Bridge, Santas swarmed, whether stylish or sloppy. There were plenty of North Pole characters as well, harmless and evil looking elves, reindeer, Mrs. Santas, even a handful of Thing 1s and Thing 2s. Most participants were wielding phones and racing to the next participating bar for a pub crawl of epic proportion. At times, sudden flash mobs of Santas appeared at pre-determined places throughout the city as Twitter alerts were sent via the Santacon website. All the merriment did some good as participating bars and restaurants took donations for the Toys for Tots drive.

Estimates ranged from 20,000 to 50,000 people took part in Santacon NYC this year. So Sloatsburg, be happy to have a single Christmas Train making its way through the village.