One of the things that comes with having a white beard and a belly that shakes like jelly when you laugh is that it doesn’t take a red suit for a child to recognize who you are.

Recently while sitting in a restaurant having breakfast, I was able to see a dad with his two boys getting ready to come in the door.  It was obvious that one of the boys was not happy with his dad’s choice of restaurants.  As they approached the entrance, this little guy began to pitch quite a fit. There was no way he was going to go through that door.  Dad patiently tried to encourage him, but each attempt to enter the restaurant was met with great resistance.  After a number of tries, the dad decided to put him in time out and had him sit down on the ground next to the door.

About this time, I had finished eating my meal.  I made my way through the door and stopped to say hello to the little boy as his dad looked on.  Suddenly, the boy’s eyes grew large, and you could see that he was surprised to see me. 

“Who does he look like?” his dad asked.  

The boy answered, “Santa? Are you Santa Claus?”  

“Well,” I said, “You never know for sure. Are you being good?”

Initially he nodded that he was being good, but then he lowered his head a bit and let me know that he was not being as good as he could be at that moment. 

“But you will be good now, right?” I asked.

 “Yes!” he exclaimed as he jumped to his feet and got ready to go into the restaurant. 

He dad mouthed the words, “Thank you so much” as they all turned and went in to eat breakfast. 

“Merry Christmas,” I said, as I turned and walked away.

I realized then that my portrayal of Santa Claus went well beyond just wearing a red suit during the Christmas season.