“Visit Santa!” invited a large TV screen set up at the entrance to a large marquee that was built against one of the outer walls of the castle, prices showing underneath. A pretty young woman, maybe nineteen or twenty years old, dressed in a cute elf costume, was sat at a table just outside the entrance.

“Two to meet the big fella, please!” Josh grinned and the girls giggled, happy to be engaging in wholesome, almost nostalgic Christmas activity. Neither of them believed in Santa Claus in a literal sense any more but they both still loved the idea and the qualities that the character embodied. Samantha found it touching that her dad would want one last “visiting Santa” photo of her and Amelia felt honoured to be included. “Would it be possible to get three photographs?” he asked. “One with each of them on their own with Santa then both together?”

“Of course!” the elf who wore her hair in twin braids like Wednesday Addams and had glitter on her cheeks smiled warmly. “What will happen is my friend will take several photos in any combinations you want then at the end we’ll bring them up on a screen for you and you can choose the ones you want to get printed and just pay for those.”

“Oh, nice!” Josh nodded and the girls grinned happily.

“You can take your own pictures too,” she smiled as she took his card and processed the payment, “but we just ask that you don’t get in the way of our Elf-Cam!”

“Understood!” Josh chuckled. “So what do we do now?”

“Go through the curtain into the Enchanted Forest,” the elf grinned, “then follow the path until you find Santa!”

“Got it!” Josh grinned, offering a hand to each girl again. “Ready?” he asked. “Let’s go!” Since Josh’s hands were occupied, the girls collaborated to pull the curtain back and they stepped through into the marquee which the organisers had done a brilliant job of turning into a magical, wintery forest like a scene from Narnia, with very tall artificial trees flocked with white foam to simulate snow creating a maze-like environment as they followed a zig-zag path of white gravel part various animatronic displays of woodland animals and other critters getting up to various shenanigans as if they were in a Disney movie.

“Wow, they’ve really gone all-out!” Samantha exclaimed, looking around in awe. Everywhere they looked there was more detail, from owl and doves in the trees to cheeky-looking green toads peeping out from behind rocks.

“This is the same stuff we’ve got for the party!” Josh observed, holding out his hand to allow a little of the artificial snow to land on on, pleased to see that it just seemed to melt to water with no greasy residue.

“So cool!” Samantha observed, her eyes sparkling like she was a small child again. As they walked the windy path that made great use of the available space, the girls excitedly pointed things out to each other, snapping occasional pictures on their phones. Finally, they rounded the final corner and saw Santa Claus himself in his grotto, currently talking to a nervous-looking boy of around eight years old.

Instead of just putting Santa on a stage or in some kind of artificial log-cabin, Josh was impressed to see that they had made use of one of the alcoves in the Castle wall, decking out the space with a plush rug, majestic throne and what he estimated to be around a dozen, smaller Christmas trees but all beautifully decorated. Santa himself was quite a sight to behold too, with a full, fluffy beard that was likely real or, if artificial, was Hollywood quality, and a gorgeous rich velvet suit with gold accents and heavy white fur. The boy had presumably already had his photographs taken as the professional-looking camera on its tripod was unattended and the elf who presumably operated it was waiting for them at the end of the part.

“Well hello there!” the red-haired teen performer bounced towards them cheerfully, dressed in the same outfit as her colleague outside and with fairly convincing ear-caps. Like the first elf they had seen, her hair was in twin braids and she had sparkles on her cheeks but hers also sported big round freckles. “So happy you found your way through the forest! Are you ready to… Oooh!” her eyes went wide for a second and she grinned broadly. “I think we’ve met before!”

“Have we?” Samantha furrowed her brow, wondering if this was part of the act or whether the pretty young performer really did recognise her. Josh and Amelia peered at her too. She definitely did seem familiar but none of them could quite place her.

“I was in disguise last time!” the elf leaned in conspiratorially, wanting to tip them off without breaking character. “Sometimes we elves come out into your world disguised as humans and pretend to have normal jobs so we can spend time around children and find out what all their favourite things are! I was assigned to the swimming pool?” she grinned expectantly. “With the cool water-slides?”

“Oooh!” Samantha exclaimed and suddenly all three of them recognised her. “The Hogmanay Hog!”

“In the flesh!” the elf giggled. “You were ever so pleased that we had matching stamps, remember?”

“I do!” Samantha nodded enthusiastically.

“So you’ve come for one last visit to Santa?” the elf smiled happily, pleased to have reconnected with her cute meat-sister, knowing that she was only going to outlive her by six days. The girls nodded happily and unzipped their coats to show their pretty outfits. “We’ll have to make sure your photos are extra-special!” she promised them. “I’ll see to that! Don’t you worry!”

“If I may ask,” Josh cut in a little nervously but rather relieved that the elf had already brought up the subject that had been on his mind, “what’s the etiquette with Santa? When it comes to that sort of thing, I mean?” The elf smiled and listened politely while he explained his question. “Is it okay for the girls to tell him that Sam’s our Christmas dinner? And that Amelia’s roasting in the Spring? Or would that upset him? I know they’ve got roast girl for sale out there and those two cuties raffling themselves off but, well, not everyone approves of that sort of thing and, well, he’s Santa so must love kids…”

“Santa does love all children!” the elf assured him. “And because he loves them so much, he wants nothing more that to see them happy! So if being a yummy meal is what would make a little girl happiest, then he will fully support her wish!”

“That’s great!” Josh gave a sigh of relief. The girls looked happy too, neither of them having wanted to have to lie to Santa! Even ‘though neither of them believed that the man in front of them was really anything other than a wonderful actor, the principal of the thing still felt wrong!

“In fact, if it makes you feel any better,” the elf leaned in a little closer, giggling, “we had a little cutie in about ten minutes ago, five years old, super excited to tell Santa how she was going to the butcher on Christmas Eve to get chopped up, and promising to get her brother to leave her toes out as a treat for him when he visits, deep-fried with a sour-cream dip!”

“Lucky Santa!” Samantha giggled. “Toes are yummy!”

“Goodbye for now, Michael!” Santa waved the young boy off. “And have a very Merry Christmas! Now,” he turned and beckoned the girls forward, “who do we have here?”

“You’re up!” the elf grinned. “Have fun!” She took up her post behind the camera as the girls approached Santa who held out his arms in welcome and Josh stood beside her but what he hoped was out of the way, wanting to get a few snaps to send to Laura and the girls enjoyed their visit.


To be continued...