The real Santa Claus

We had our first run in with Santa Claus at the grocery store last week and I have been reluctant to write about it because I just don't know if I can accurately describe the joy on my son's face in a story. But I am going to try because it was his first encounter with Santa and that deserves documentation.
We stopped in the card section and picked up a singing Christmas card. Singing cards have been the best thing to happen to our grocery store trips since the days when a cheerio sanck was enough of a bribe to buy us 30 minutes of speed shopping. So he picked out his card and we headed to the produce section. I am pretty sure that the other shoppers that evening thought that either our cart was playing "Frosty the snowman" or that I had a really festive ring tone because just strolling along we were getting a lot of strange looks...but anyway, we grabbed the card and went on our way. We passed an isle and Henry gasps and yells "SANTA CLAUS". I figured it was a figurine or one of those big blow up numbers so I said "No Henry is it just a pretend Santa." "NO Mama. Dat was the REAL Santa Claus." I backed up and sure enough, there was Santa picking up some nacho cheese Doritos. He must have just finished his photo-ops and decided to pick up a few things before he headed home. Santa gave us a small wave and continued to shop. I panicked. How was I going to explain that, yes, that was Santa but, no, we cannot talk to him because he is off the clock? So, I said "Oh, it looks like he is busy buying some food for his reindeer that are parked outside and hungry." And I walked very quickly to the other side of the produce section and tried to distract Henry. "Mama." Henry whispered shyly "Santa is standing behind you." And then there he was. He asked Henry his name and how old he was and what he wanted for Christmas. Henry was shy at first. He said his name and age very quietly. When Santa asked what he wants for Christmas he said "Geotrackdigger" very quickly. Santa couldn't understand him so I started to explain what a geo track is and then realized that was totally unnecessary when he nodded his head at me like "Lady, I don't really need to know what the kid wants." Duh! Anyway, Santa gave Henry a small candy cane and continued shopping and Henry was so excited. He moved between sitting with his mouth wide open and giggling while saying "Santa gave me dis candy cane Mama." The funny part to me...well there were 2 funny parts. First was the other shoppers in the store. Everyone stopped to watch Henry interact with Santa. Everyone was smiling and one guy, probably in his 20's, gave Henry the thumbs up. The other funny thing was that Santa smelled like cigarettes and alcohol and was just a tiny bit creepy...something that friends of mine have said about their experiences with grocery store Santa's but that I had never experienced first hand because we didn't visit Santa when I was a kid. It didn't bother Henry though. He has been talking about it ever since.