When little Sophie Jo Riley was on a trip to Walmart in Hurricane, West Virginia with her father and sister she was shocked to look up and see Santa Claus.

At just two years old, nearly anyone with a white beard might look like Santa. But since their shopping trip was around Christmastime, she was even more convinced.

“She was just sneaking around the aisle, had her back against the toys,” her older sister Miya Lupashunski told WSAZ News. “We were behind her, and she’d put her finger up to her lips and go ‘Shh! It’s Santa!’”

While the fellow shopper, Roger Larck, wasn’t in full Santa gear, he was wearing a red sweater. Sophie was so in awe of her discovery that her father gave her permission to approach Larck after she kept sneaking up on him in the store.

“Santa?” she asked as she approached him. “I’ve been called worse,” he replied.

Sophie’s sister began recording the encounter on her phone and over the last 4 years, it’s been viewed millions of times on Facebook and YouTube.

In the video, the little girl approaches the man, who crouches down and is kind enough to play the role.

She’s clearly nervous as she plays with her curly ponytail while cozying up to the guy who she thinks is going to bring her gifts later that month.

Not knowing exactly what to do, Sophie shows off her pretty nails to Santa, who is kindly impressed.

“Wow, that’s very pretty,” he exclaims.

As she twists and turns, her sister urges her to tell “Santa” what she wants for Christmas and Larck kindly obliges as she gives him her list.

Sophie also lets him know that there will be cookies waiting for him when he arrives to drop off the loot.

But not wanting to overpromise, the cookie-loving toddler hilariously informs him that he can only have one – the rest are for the reindeer.

It’s clear Sophie is pretty knowledgable about the finer points of Christmas since she points out that reindeer only eat grass. But Larck assures her that the cookies will be fine since grass is hard to come by at the North Pole.

It was a heartwarming moment as the little girl marvels over her good fortune.

As for Larck, he was all too happy to oblige and play Santa for a few minutes.

“I’m tickled I’ve been a part of something that other people have enjoyed,” he said. “It was just me having a conversation with a little girl. It melted my heart when it happened.”

Sophie’s dad Robert Reily said in his original Facebook post that he was later contacted by Larck who told him that “meeting our little Sophie was the best present he has received for a long long time.”

The video and story were so popular that a few days later, Sophie and her dad appeared on the local news to talk about the experience.

And there was a very special guest – Larck showed up once again to chat with Sophie about her Christmas wishes.

It looks like Christmas came early for everyone that year.

Be sure to scroll down to see the adorable footage of a little girl meeting off-duty “Santa.”

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Source: DailyPicksandFlicks via YouTube, Robert Riley via Facebook, WSAZ News