The Sweet Way a Mall Santa Helped Honor This Mom's Late Son

Although it should have been among the happiest days of her life, the day of her baby's birth is noted by Amanda Berman to be one of the worst, as her son, Ian, was stillborn. On the day she lost her son, the hospital staff gave Amanda and her husband a box from Sweet Grace Ministries, which contained a brown teddy bear that the couple have held onto to remember their son and keep his memory alive.

Since they lost Ian in September 2016, the Bermans have brought the teddy bear — who is also named Ian — on various trips with them to take photographs of him and document the memories that should have been between them and their son. To continue with that tradition, Amanda decided that this year, she wanted to take the bear for a photo with Santa.

"I thought people would think I was crazy," Amanda told the York Daily Record. "I wasn't sure how the Santa would react." As it turns out, Santa would react in the sweetest way possible.

"When I first saw her coming and saw her carrying the teddy bear, I pretty much knew right away what this was going to be about," said Thomas Timmons, who is better known as "Santa" at the York Galleria Mall in Pennsylvania. "I knew this must have been a tragedy . . . I just treated that teddy bear like it was their baby. I respected that teddy bear and put it on my knee."

Amanda is overwhelmed with gratitude for the Santa's kind reaction and the fact that someone in the community offered to pay the $30 for the bear's photo with Santa, which Amanda plans on adding to a memorial she set up for Ian in her home.