It was late Tuesday night, and the jolly ol' soul with the full white beard and the fur-trimmed red suit was heading off to bed for a bit.
"It's going to get crazy around here tomorrow," he said while peering over his glasses as he described what he expected to experience this past Wednesday at Hamilton Place mall. "School's out, and every parent in town is going to suddenly be struck by the thought, 'I haven't had my child's picture made with Santa yet.'
"Happens every year. Lines like you wouldn't believe. All day long. And in case you forgot, I've got a pretty busy Sunday night ahead of me. Good thing I've got warehouses all over the world, or I'd run out of time."
I must confess, I usually leave conversations with Santa Claus to my kids. Cuts out the middle man. Why should I waste my time relaying messages from my daughters to the Ageless One or his elves when they can do it themselves?
But this year has been an especially tough one for too many of us adults. Hurricanes. Floods. Wildfires. Also, though not nearly so important, there are some of you who see the sports world through orange-tinted lenses only, which means you were flattened for a time by Currie-gate, which was also known as the Tennessee football coaching search. Or as some folks not so passionate about the Volunteers have called it, Unintended Comedy Central.
And I won't even touch on what has gone on in our nation's capital the past 338 days. But no matter how you view our political model today, it's safe to say at least one person is going to label it as huge, and I mean HUGE, though I'll let you choose your own word - success/failure/embarrassment/enlightenment/disappointment/empowerment, all of the above, none of the above - to follow "huge" before you head off to play with your far more electronically savvy child or grandkid.
For proof of that last assumption, merely ask Santa the following question: What's the biggest surprise request you've gotten from a child this Christmas season?
Said Santa on Tuesday: "Just a few days ago, I had a 4-year-old ask me for an iPhone X. That's a $1,000 phone. I never promise a child anything. I always say I'll see what I can do. But having a 4-year-old ask for a $1,000 phone takes some getting used to."
In a minute or two, Santa wanted to know if I'd brought my own wish list for him. I asked if he could bring me time. And peace on earth. And just for fun, because everyone should have at least a wee bit of fun at Christmas, I asked for a dancing bear that could sing like Sinatra, play basketball like LeBron and make money like Warren Buffett, because a bear that could do all that could easily make me all the money I'd ever need to buy peace and time and a beach house on South Carolina's Edisto Island.
He broke into a wan smile and said, "Santa can't do miracles."
Then he discussed one of his more heartbreaking moments, as well as his most recent feel-good story.
"There's always a child who comes to you and says, 'I want my mommy and daddy back,' and those always break your heart," he said. "But I once had this little girl tell me, 'I don't have a dad. He hurt Mommy.' That got to Mrs. Claus and me for a long time."
In a far different way, so did a visit from a soldier just returning from Afghanistan. Though Santa was given a brief description of what was about to take place, he had no idea the father, who was kept hidden from his children's view, was going to photobomb their pictures with Santa.
But as each child sat on Santa's lap, facing the camera, the dad would pop into view from behind Santa's chair.
"Finally, I asked the little girl what she wanted for Christmas, and she said, 'All I want for Christmas is to see my dad,'" Santa explained. "Then the photographer handed her the picture he'd photobombed. She looked at it, puzzled for a moment, then started looking around for her father. When he appeared, the applause from the crowd gathered around us was deafening. Right after that I thanked the G.I. for his service, then left my seat for a few minutes. I was a little choked up."
He broke into something approaching a miniature "Ho, ho, ho," when asked what Christmas morning is like for him after pulling the mother of all-nighters.
"What's the poem say?" he said with a grin. "That's always the first day of my long winter's nap."
That doesn't mean he and Mrs. Claus drift off to sleep with big smiles on their faces.
"Some people get the Christmas blues all during the Christmas season," he said. "My Christmas blues start the day after Christmas. The greatest joy of my life is trying to make children smile and laugh."
His eyelids growing heavy, Santa returned his thoughts to the children asking him to bring their late parents back to life.
"I always tell them the same thing," he said. "As long as you keep them here (pats the left side of his chest) and here (points at his head), they'll always be with you."
Embrace that same exercise when it comes to the spirit of Christmas, and it might always be with all of us. Or at least for a few weeks longer than a couple of weeks in December.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.