Santa Claus

This evening our son John, his wife Beth and Caleb met us (1/2 way between Beth's mother's home in the Columbus area and our's here at the lakes) at an Amish restaurant.  While we were eating dinner, Caleb interrupted our conversation to exclaim  that Santa Claus was there.  Sure enough he and Mrs Claus as well were eating dinner at a table diagonally across the aisle from us.

At first we tried to keep him quiet, so not to embarrass anyone. But he was so insistent. He wanted to ask Santa about his reindeer that fly high up in the sky.  After considering that Mr Claus was wearing a Christmas tree vest in March, we decided that Old Saint Nick would most certainly welcome the 

'intrusion'. We were right. As Caleb approached him, we could see that Santa loved children and was pleased to talk with Caleb. Santa spoke to him very kindly about being a good boy. He  pulled out his wallet and first of all gave Caleb his card.  Then later, he pulled out another card that was a photo copy of his 'drivers  license' issued to Kris Kringle of Hudson.  After speaking with him more, he pulled out his wallet again and gave Beth a card with the number to reach him in  case Caleb was not behaving well.

It certainly was the high point of our day...perhaps week...time will tell. None of us had any idea we would meet Mr and Mrs Claus at dinner.  

Now when we ask Caleb where Santa lives, he no longer  spouts out North Pole, but now says emphatically, OHIO. 

On the long drive home, Caleb continued to talk about Santa. He wanted his wallet, so he could put Santa's  'tickets' (cards) in it.  You could tell by the way he held them that they were very precious to him. It was an eventful night for a three year old boy.