Santa Sighting

I am especially excited for Christmas this year because we will go from a family of 3 to a family of 4 (December 18 is our due date)! Anyway, Lucy has a Christmas book all about Santa that she really likes, although it is not Christmas time we read it anyway about once a week. Every time we see Santa I point to him and say "Ho Ho Ho" she repeats it and we do this over and over. So she is getting that this man with a big white beard is Santa or Ho Ho Ho. Yesterday, we went to Hobby Lobby so I could pick up a few things (FYI...grandparents day is next weekend). We went down the isles that had the ornaments and we stopped in front of the Santa's and looked at almost all and we both said "Ho, Ho, Ho" We were on that isle for about 10 minutes. Then I went over to another section of the store where...well we saw Santa. There was a man, not in his red suite as many would think (but it is rather hot in Texas right now) but rather in a green shirt, a funny looking hat and you guessed it long white hair and an even longer white beard. Lucy looked at me, with her mouth wide open pointing to this man. I smiled at the man as we passed him and then whispered "Ho, ho, ho" in Lucy's ear. WOW - I was not thinking... she repeated me out loud while pointing to this man. He turned around, chuckled and said "yes, many people think I live year round at the north pole, but often times I reside right here in Corpus Christi Texas". He was so proud and Lucy was in awe. We ended up being on the same isle with him over and over. He was telling me how he was busy working on a Christmas project, I started to wonder - was he the real deal? As we checked out, he told Lucy to be a good little girl and he would see her in a couple of months. It made both Lucy and my day! As if I wasn't already looking forward to Christmas, getting to meet Santa a few months early in Hobby Lobby was a real treat! This is a story I will always cherish.