Little girl spots Santa Claus eating alone, joins him for breakfast

Gracie Lynn Wilson, 3, strongly believes that Santa Claus should not eat alone.

When Gracie and her family arrived at an Evansville, Indiana, Bob Evans for breakfast last Monday morning, she spotted a man with a white beard, wearing red suspenders, eating breakfast in a booth by himself.

"As soon as we walked in, Gracie was saying, ‘Look Mommy, he’s here,’ and “Daddy, look, its Santa!’ He obviously heard her because 3-year-olds aren’t quiet by any stretch of the imagination," Gracie’s mom, Lindsey Wilson, told TODAY.

"We didn’t know if he wanted to eat and be left alone, but he said that if she wanted to come talk to him, it didn’t bother him at all. He was open-arms welcoming to her."

So Gracie walked over to “Santa,” gave him a hug — and asked if she could join him at his table.

"They just sat there, having a conversation like they’d known each other for years," said Wilson.

Gracie told the man she liked his outfit. He told her that he liked her cowboy boots. Then covered important topics, like Frozen and the weather at the North Pole. Gracie even asked if she could live with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

As their conversation wound down, Kris Kringle asked Gracie his signature question: “What would you like for Christmas this year?”

Gracie’s parents listened in, as their 3-year-old had yet to tell them what she wanted for Christmas.

Gracie looked over at her mom as she gave her answer: “Baby James.”

Wilson is expecting a boy, whom she will call James, in early December.

"We’d been asking her what she wanted and she hadn’t told us anything yet. It was really neat to hear that a 3-year-old didn’t want toys and more stuff — that all she wanted was her baby brother," Wilson told TODAY.

When Gracie got home from her breakfast date with Santa, she insisted on decorating the house for Christmas. Wilson told the Huffington Post that her daughter hasn’t stopped talking about Santa since.

Local NBC News affiliate WFIE of Evansville was able to track down Gracie’s Santa, who cheers up other children at a local mall throughout the holiday season.

He told reporters, “You know what, I thought that was pretty special…I am going to have a few surprises for her this year.”

When the story went viral, parents chimed in with other great stories about this special Santa.

“This Santa is really a neat man. My kids had a wonderful experience when we visited him. In the past other Santa’s never seem interested much in letting the little ones talk about Christmas lists like but he was so in detail,” Leslie Nicole Moore wrote on Facebook.

"We had a wonderful experience with him as well! He is fantastic!!" wrote Cyndi Lovelace Young.

This week, Gracie was reunited with her Santa at the Eastland Mall.