First Santa shows up at his front door.

Then 2-year-old Giovanni Crescenzi's older brother rips the wrapping paper off a cardboard box and a midnight black kitten emerges.

So Giovanni's first words are completely understandable: "Hi, doggie!"

The surprise Christmas morning visit to the Crescenzi's Union home from the jolly old elf himself was courtesy of St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center in Madison, which offered holiday delivery today for those adopting pets this season.

"This is a time of great warmth and family bonding," said Heather Camissa, today Santa's jingle-hatted helper but whose day job is St. Hubert's CEO. "Why not add this extra bit of special?"

"Can I hold him, Mom?," 4-year-old Angelo Crescenzi asked his mother Jodee, his two hands pressed together, outstretched and palms up, as if in supplication.

"You gotta hold your hands up," Jodee told him, at which Angelo turned his hands over, palms down. Camissa laughed and settled Angelo in front of her and placed Edgar on his lap, both gently stroking the slightly skittish kitten.

"The only thing you have to do is love him forever," Santa (okay, St. Hubert's staffer Melissa Morgan) told Giovanni, Angelo and Zachary, 9. "Can you do that?"

"Yeah!," Giovanni yelled. Then: "I want the puppy!"

At the Freese home in Madison, confusion — Who is Dad talking to outside? Why is Santa here? What's with the photographers? — turned to tears as Rose, 12, and Vivian, 10, tore off the wrapping paper to reveal a tan tabby named Junior. "We've been wanting a cat for a while, and I did not expect it all!," Vivian said, crying from the excitement.

It must be noted that Santa's eyes got a little wet as well.

The family moved from Texas to New Jersey three years ago for mom Elizabeth to pursue her Ph.D, and they had to give up their cat because the family dorm they were living in at the time didn't allow pets. Although they keep in touch with their old pet, now living in an Austin high-rise, the family had talked broadly about adopting again.

When Elizabeth and her husband Talley found Junior at St. Hubert's and learned the cat also hailed from the Lone Star State (his family had lost their home and had been forced to give away their cats), it seemed like destiny.

"He's from Texas?!" Rose yelped.

"Santa goes all over over the world," the red-suited visitor told her. And for Santa's trouble, Elizabeth handed over a tin of roasted pecans made with a special family recipe.

St. Hubert's, which operates shelters in Madison and North Branch along with a highly-regarded dog training school in Madison, adopted out 54 pets this week. While animal advocates caution against spur-of-the-moment adoptions for the holidays, St. Hubert's staffers only permit adoptions after one-on-one counseling with the families to make sure they understand the responsibilities and can offer a safe environment.

The holidays can be a great time to adopt, Camissa says, because families are often at home and have time to spend with the pets and to acclimate them to their new home.

"I can't believe they got me again," said Jan Myers, opening his front door to Santa after spotting the St. Hubert's animal control van pull up to his Chatham home and immediately intuiting the nature of this special delivery. The Myers' beloved, oversized ("as big as a leopard") 13-year-old cat, Charlie, died over the summer of cancer, and Jan was feeling the loss earlier Christmas morning.

"We didn't have a cat this year to be involved in the wrapping paper," he said, snuggling the tiny black and white kitten named Valerie to his chest. "I had to throw the wrapping paper at my son."

Jan and his wife Donna had talked about getting a new cat but hadn't yet committed — or so Jan thought. Donna picked out Valerie on a recent visit to St. Hubert's: "She came right to us," she says. "We loved her from the first moment we saw her. She'll be spoiled rotten."

But Donna didn't realize Santa himself would make a house call.

"She was always going to be a Christmas present, but I didn't realize she was going to be such a Christmas present."

Vicki Hyman may be reached at vhyman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @vickihy. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.