Ninety-three-year-old World War II veteran Bob Smiley knows Santa Claus isn't real.

Or at least he thought he did.

That was before Father Christmas got down on one knee, took Smiley's hands and thanked him for his service in a moving encounter at the Concord Mall earlier this month.

The moment, captured in a picture and posted on Facebook, quickly went viral.

But what people should really be talking about is not how Santa honored one lone veteran at a mall in Delaware, Smiley said. The real story is Santa himself.

"Boy! I got the impression this was the real Santa Claus," Smiley said. "He was so soft-spoken and obviously kind. I'd say he's the real deal.”

“He told me he leaves the North Pole at 12 o’clock, and he travels all over the world.”

A right jolly ol' elf

When he walks, he jingles. His cheeks are rosy and red. Tug on his beard and he might just cry out.

If you want, you can call him St. Nick.

"I've had children from age two weeks up to kids age 93 sit here with me," Santa said. "It's always that magical time of the season. We get the opportunity to share joy, wonder, love."

That's what Santa was doing when he kneeled in front of Smiley on Dec. 1. The retiree had been walking around the mall getting exercise, he said, wearing a World War II veteran's hat.

“I’m 93 years old, and I walk every day and when there’s inclement weather or cold weather I usually walk in the Concord Mall because it has a lot of benches," Smiley said with a laugh. "I sit down quite frequently.”

On that particular day, one of the benches Smiley usually sits on was occupied, he said. So he sat up against the wall instead. He was near Macy's, near Santa's Workshop, when Old Kris Kringle walked up to him.

"Pretty much I was doing what I do every day," Santa said. "Now the difference is on that particular day, Santa got caught."

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Sharing the joy

Little did Smiley — or Santa — know that the woman who had taken the veteran's usual bench at the mall, Gina Wilbur, was watching the magical encounter unfold.

Quickly, she snapped a picture.

"I was shopping with my stepson, Cavan," Wilbur said. "He wanted to go into a store near Santa's Workshop, so I sat down on a bench nearby with the shopping bags. I saw Santa come around the corner, thinking he was going to pass me so I thought I would take a picture. He stopped short of me and greeted a gentleman sitting on the wall next to me.

"I could hear him thanking him for his service; a very heartfelt genuine appreciation. He then stood up and went back to the children. I thought I was going to capture a fun picture of Santa as he walked by and it turned out to be so much more."

Wilbur later posted the picture on Facebook, where it was shared more than 5,600 times. Smiley said Santa told him his father also served in World War II, as well as the Korean War.

"I think we owe a debt of gratitude to these men and women who serve our nation," Santa said. "Not just in the military, but those on the front line, the first responders, our police, our firefighters. All are so important and we owe them the time to just go say thank you."

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The spirit of Christmas

Now, don't go thinking Santa isn't real or that the jolly old man at Concord Mall is just an actor in a suit.

If you ask him, he'll tell you his name really is Santa and that he really does live at the North Pole.

"I think what I do is what anyone can do if they want," he said. "I represent the spirit of Christmas, but that doesn't happen just at Christmas time."

"We have moments throughout our day, throughout our lives, to make an impact by simply giving a smile."

This is the king of jolly's first year at the Concord Mall, he said, but "Santa gets around."

On Sunday, he took pictures with about 370 children. On Saturday, there were even more.

"And these are still slow days," he said.

On Wednesday, Santa paid just as much attention to the adults as the children, greeting a security guard, an older gentleman in a wheelchair and a local barista.

Everyone's a kid at heart, he said. And everyone's welcome to visit Santa.

Raising his hands to speak sign language, he extended a special welcome to the deaf community. He told a story about one special little girl who was initially afraid to sit on his lap but quickly changed her mind.

"The girl was signing 'I'm afraid, I'm afraid. I can't go sit with Santa,'" he said. "And I signed to mama, and mama just turned the child and she looked at me, she saw me sign and she came running.

"Mama stood and she watched and I signed with all of our conversation and mama cried. She said she had never seen a Santa sign. So, that moment of connection is so important."

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Contact Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessicajbies.