It was a long flight, but much worse for the man sitting across the aisle.

He was a single dad with two young kids, maybe 4 and 6, on a nearly six hour red-eye from Utah back to the east coast, doing his absolute best to keep them calm and entertained.

But there’s only so much you can do.

I’m a 31-year-old professional traveler, and I’m barely holding it together. You have to feel for these kids, and their dad.

Unbeknownst to him, but quite knownst to me, sitting two rows behind them but just in front of me, was a peculiar person.

An older gentleman, late 60s perhaps, tall with a generous belly, wearing beat-up black sneakers, red sweatpants, a red button-down short sleeve shirt, and sporting a giant, scraggly pure white beard.

I’m a fully grown adult and even I couldn’t help but think, It’s Santa!

Why would he do that to himself? I wondered. Surely he must know he has a passing resemblance to Santa. Why make it worse wearing all red?

Kindness

We finally touched down in Atlanta.

As I exited the jet bridge I noticed Santa (am I really calling him that?) had already gotten off, but had moved to the side to adjust his luggage before traveling through the airport. I pulled over to do the same.

Just then the father and children came out. The dad was literally red-eyed, carrying all of their luggage and herding the kids, desperately trying to keep them moving and in a straight line.

The kids were clearly past their limit, flopping their bodies around out of boredom and exhaustion.

But then they saw him.

Simultaneously their jaws dropped like a cartoon as they stared upwards at the looming figure in red with the giant white beard. Their father’s eyes went wide as if silently pleading, Please don’t bother this poor man.

I’ll never forget what happened next.

Santa noticed the kids noticing him and, without a moment’s hesitation, adopted a giant ear-to-ear grin, smacked his belly, and bellowed,

Ho, ho, ho!

The kids lit up with the kind of joy usually reserved for their first experience at Disney’s The Magic Kingdom.

As they walked away the father turned his head back just long enough to mouth, “Thank you” to Santa, and I smiled the entire final flight home at 5am.

It doesn’t take much to make the world a better place.