Santa gulped, composed himself and then confronted the most painful and distressing moment in his three decades of ‘Santa-ing.'

'A little girl came into the Santa grotto and told me all she wanted for Christmas was her Dad,” says Gavin Knight. The father had recently passed away from cancer.

'She just wanted her Dad back.But you can't do or say anything that would suggest you can fulfil that wish.” So what did the Bethlehem Town Centre resident Santa Claus tell the girl?

'I said to her that Dad was in her heart and that he would always be with her.”

It was a sad but special and privileged moment for Gavin Knight. The child was opening up to Santa, she was sharing her grief with him. 'She believed in the magic that is Santa. So I said that her Dad had made sure Santa would bring her something special that Christmas.”

And then the hard part.

'I had to tell her Santa couldn't bring Dad back. I just had to be honest. The mother was crying. That will stay with me forever.” Gavin Knight had to close Santa's grotto for twenty minutes while he gathered his equilibrium. 'It tore at me. But it also gave me the strength and the resolve to do the Santa thing again the next year.”

Gavin Knight and Santa have a special connection. His father was a Santa, and his grandfather was a Santa. Red suits, white beards and guffaws run in the family. Gavin has been ‘Santa-ing', an intransitive verb he has coined, for 30 years. He claims his middle name is 'Noelle” and his daughter's name in Nowelle. Serious Santa business. And just ho-ho-ho's at the suggestion of overkill.

'Santa is the representation of the joy, the wonder, the specialness that is in all of us at Christmas, the child that is still in every one of us at Christmas.”

Christmas has always been a very special occasion for a young Gavin Knight, even before he could fill out a red suit. 'There wasn't a lot going on materially, there weren't many big gifts. But it was a time for family, a time for coming together and a time for laughter.” It was also a time for watching and learning from the generations of Santas that went before him.

And Gavin, or Santa, insists it's not like being an actor, it's not just getting in the role and immersing in a character.

'Santa is me and I am Santa” says Gavin. 'We have to be true to who we are.” And when the gig at the grotto starts early next month Gavin transmogrifies and is true only to Santa. 'I am not playing a part, I am 100 percent Santa and I won't even answer to the name Gavin.”

The Bethlehem Town Centre was looking for a complete Santa package when it hired Gavin – genuine, interactive and empathetic, honest and kind. He can also name all the reindeer, 'Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph and Olive.” He knows Santa is 1,746 years old. 'But more importantly I know that I represent the hopes and dreams of so many kids.”

The Town Centre says it has one of the best because Gavin lives and loves what he does. And I cheapened it by suggesting Santa just pulled on a red suit and made rash promises to the kids.

'Santa is part of the hope, the love and the togetherness. And if we could grow that throughout the whole year wouldn't it be wonderful.”

Santa, or in this incarnation Gavin Knight, is sitting in the sun supping tea at Columbus in the Bethlehem town Centre – far removed from the snow, the elves and Santa's peak time. Beneath the jaunty black trilby is, well, nothing, a shiny, bald pate. 'A solar panel for a Santa machine” he suggests.

There's the full grey beard which has gone feral. 'I grow the beard for the day. It's gone the next and then I start over again.” For the day, December 8, in the grotto, the moustache will coiffed and curled and a friendly barber will have tamed the feral look. And grey will be white.

There's also the white T-shirt and black waist coat advertising a portly, even cherubic and jolly Santa stereotype. He's not offended in the slightest. 'I am in perfect condition for Santa, I work on it all year.”

More guffaws. 'Well, the likeness isn't on purpose, this is just who I am. I guess the part grew around me rather than me into the part.”

There are the piercing blue eyes and even when he's not laughing and smiling his face is preparing for when he does. Which is always soon. His father, his inner Santa voice, told Gavin to keep smiling, to keep laughter on his face. ”You have to keep your eyes laughing all the time. A tired person has tired eyes and kids notice. If there is no Christmas on your face, children suspect and wonder. And it's all about their experience.”

He's full of stories. Like the eight year old who whispered to Gavin, I mean Santa, that she did not want anything for Christmas because she and her mother were going to a soup kitchen on Christmas Day. 'She just wanted to make sure everyone else had a wonderful day.”

Stories like that are enriching. 'That's why I do it.”

And there was the 10-year-old boy who had stopped believing. But he was back believing after spending a few moments in the spell of Gavin Noelle Santa Claus Knight. So Santa is real.