KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Sandwiched between stores, Santa Claus has brought his Christmas magic a little farther south.

"It's all about the children," said Santa. "Electronic games. The walking puppy. All kinds of dolls, all kinds of trucks."

Children -- hoping to make Santa's nice list -- surround the jolly old elf bursting with requests and questions. They try to keep up with all that he does.

"The children sometimes are looking for answers to that maybe they have in their mind that maybe they haven't been brave enough to ask before," said Kris Kringle. "Where are your reindeer? Where is Mrs. Claus? Are you the real Santa? Do you actually bring presents and come down the chimney? How do you do that?"

St. Nick, too, is keeping track. "To be remembered by someone, an icon, global icon like Santa Claus, has an extra power to it," he said.

When the requests require extra 'elf' effort, Santa records a prayer. "Santa, Remember my mom...because my dad was killed in Afghanistan," said Santa of one request this year, "And of course that's very very heart wrenching to hear."

Through the year, hundreds of prayers are blessed with magic in Santa's Book of Remembrance, creating miracles from his temporary home on Morrell.

"Last year, I wrote down the name of Layla Walker," Santa said.

"I just simply asked him to pray for us and he said, 'Just a minute,' and he reached under and he got a book," said Noelle Walker recalling the event.

Noelle, and her husband Greg, had just decided to take their daughter, 4-year-old Layla, to Germany for life-changing stem cell treatment that is not approved in the U.S.

"It was December 23, and we had literally just made the decision that we were going to do this," said Walker.

Layla fights cerebral palsy for control of her own body, and Santa saw her struggle. "He called us after the holidays and he kind of set us on our way, helped us start the fund raising right then and there," she said.

With help from the North Pole, The Walkers raised more than $50,000, and made the trip in August. Layla came home with bright eyes.

"We notice her start looking at things in a way that we had never seen," said Walker. "She was actually looking at something and holding her gaze on. It's nice to see she's enjoying bits and pieces of Christmas she has never gotten to."

And Santa now is a part of their family. He's been to dinner, and keeps in touch with the family through frequent email. "I actually left with tears in my eyes because he reached out and touched me, you know, in my soul, the way Santa's supposed to," she said.

It's that spirit of giving that brings Christmas home to children of all ages.

"Santa can't make all of that go away as much as he might wish, but perhaps he can help enable them to endure it," said Santa. And his heart can make a believer out of you and me.

"'Would you please remember me?', so I did."