Dr. Romance has a Santa sighting

We were having lunch with our step-granddaughter, Natalie, 2 1/2 and her grandmother last week at Heritage Family Pantry in Lakewood, when a rather rotund gentleman with a flowing white beard, sweatshirt and jeans walked by our window and came into the cafe. Natalie's grandmother said he was Santa Claus, and at first, Natalie ducked her head and said "I scared." After a few minutes, though, she was craning her neck to see where he was sitting, at the other side of the cafe. She said she wanted to "see Santa," so I picked her up out of her high chair and took her over to where he and his wife were eating. I smiled and said, "Excuse me, but Natalie (who had gone shy again) would like to know if you're Santa Clause. He smiled gravely and said "One of his helpers." This distinction was lost on Natalie, but when he smiled at her and asked "Have you been a good little girl?" her eyes grew large. She was tongue-tied (not her usual mode) so I answered "She's been very good" and he said "Then, I'm sure Santa will bring you a lot of toys for Christmas."

I said a heartfelt thank you to him for being so open and kind, and wished them a Merry Christmas. As I started to turn away, Natalie came out of her trance and waved and said "Bye, Santa," and the gracious gentleman waved back.

When we got back to our table, Natalie was excited, and asked to see Santa again. Her grandmother told her we needed to leave him alone so he could eat his lunch, and she was OK with that. As we were getting ready to leave, the gentleman and his wife walked out the door, and Natalie raced to the door, with me close behind. I opened the door for her, and picked her up so "Santa" who was in a giant SUV, could see her and she and I waved. "Santa" very kindly rolled down his window waved and shouted "Merry Christmas" Natalie called back "Merry Christmas, Santa"