Updated

A Santa hat-wearing school bus driver on Long Island, N.Y., has won the right to keep wearing his festive headgear, Newsday reported.

Kenneth Mott, who keeps a long, white beard, almost lost his job after a parent called the bus management to complain. Mott, who has worn the red and white hat every Christmas since he started with the Bauman & Sons bus company five years ago, was ordered to stop wearing the hat because a child didn't believe in Santa Claus and was bothered by the hat.

Click here to read the full Newsday story.

"I said, 'What, are you kidding me?'" Mott recalled. "I thought it was a big joke," Newsday reported.

However, after Mott told other parents he might be fired for wearing the hat, supervisors changed their stance and said he could continue to wear the hat.