AMES, Iowa – A line of children in puffy coats and colorful face masks waited on a sidewalk in Ames as the mid-December sun began to set.Fifteen lit-up Christmas inflatables arranged around a suburban lawn – reindeer, elves, snowmen – illuminated their excited faces as they waited with their parents for an outdoor visit with Santa Claus.”We aren’t really going to malls or anything this year,” Cason Clark explained, his two children in tow. “We had visited this last year. He’s a really good Santa.”At that, the man himself, known locally as “Santa Ames,” walked past the family, bells on …
