About 40 years ago, Bob Smith recalls, he was filling in as Santa Claus at a local mall when he noticed a young girl out of the corner of his eye who was using sign language with her mother.
“I can’t talk to Santa. I’m deaf,” the girl signed. She set her hands on her hips and was refusing to approach him.
Little did they know, Smith, who’s from Bethlehem, had worked as a sign language interpreter for the State of Connecticut for decades. He looked at the girl and signed, “Do you want to talk with Santa?”…