After this, Amelia hopped down from Santa’s lap and moved back close to Josh and the elf to let Samantha have a picture on her own then the girls swapped places and Amelia got to have her solo pictures.

“Well it’s been truly wonderful seeing you!” Santa exclaimed once the photographs were finished. “And I’d like to give you each a special present to say thank you for coming to see me today!” He reached into his large, velvet gift sack and pulled out two gifts in metallic green and red wrapping paper which he handed to the girls. They thanked him very politely and wished him a Merry Christmas. “Thank you so much!” he beamed. “Do enjoy cooking, little turkey,” he grinned at Samantha than turned to Amelia, “and you enjoy your very special Christmas dinner! It sounds like I won’t be seeing either of you next year which makes this visit all the more special!”

While this exchange was going on, Josh noticed that the next family had arrived – a mother with two cute, plump daughters of about eight and six, both with long, strawberry blonde hair and fortified against the cold with thick coats, mittens and scarves which came up to their chins as well as matching woolly hats. She seemed to be having a quite intense, almost pleading conversation with the elf.

Realising that it was time for them to make way for the next visitors, Josh thanked Santa himself and guided the girls out through a flap in the side of the marquee into a larger version of the log-cabin market stalls that was erected by the side. As they were leaving, they turned once more to wave goodbye to Santa and saw the mother ushering the two girls forward while the elf took a radio from her belt and walked a little way back up the path to speak into it.

Inside the cabin they found a setup very similar to the exit of flagship rides at theme parks, staffed by two more elves. There was a counter with a till set up on it behind them was a second counter set up as a work-station with various printers and wooden boxes, above which were five screens, the first and third from the left showing the different products on offer including snow-globes, keyrings and baubles and the screen between them cycling through various highlights from among the pictures taken that day, or perhaps previous years with the same Santa in the same location. The two right-hand screens were for showing the pictures that the families could choose from.

The girls looked at the screens, delighted, as the blonde elf showed them their options. There really weren’t any bad shots among them but in consultation with Josh they chose one where they were both sat on Santa’s lap as their favourite over all and one each of their solo pictures. Josh requested two snow-globes of the double picture, one of his own family and one for Amelia’s, plus baubles of of both of the solo pictures. He also ordered a keyring of the picture with both of them and two of their high-quality prints as well as the option to have all the pictures emailed to him.

“Oh great, you’re still here!” the red-haired elf looked relieved to see them as she burst into the cabin where they were stood happily chatting, waiting for the other elves to prepare their prints.

“Yeah, we’re still here!” Josh chuckled. “Is something wrong? Did one of the girls drop their phone or something?”

“Oh no,” she assured him quickly as the girls looked curious, “nothing’s wrong! Nothing at all! Just got some news you might be interested in!” Now the girls were incredibly intrigued, as was Josh. “Are you planning on sticking around all day?”

“Most of it, I suppose.” Josh replied, a little puzzled but very curious. “We really only just got here and haven’t really had a proper explore yet. Why?”

“Well we’ve just been asked for the fifth time already today,” she explained enigmatically, “so I was talking to the organisers and they’ve agreed, Santa too,” she grinned, “from three until four we’re going to have a special session just for girls who are getting harvested before next Christmas where you can have a photograph with Santa in the nude if you’d like to?”

“Oh wow!” Amelia beamed, then looked concerned for a moment. “Wait…” she narrowed her eyes. “You do mean us in the nude, right? Santa won’t be naked?”

“Oh Jiggling Jingle Bells, no!” the elf laughed. “Don’t worry, Santa will keep all his clothes on. You would be the naked ones.”

“What do you think?” Josh asked with a chuckle. “Want to get your kit off for Santa?” Both girls giggled.

“You wouldn’t have to pay again.” the elf assured them. “And there wouldn’t be a second present, it would just be a photo-shoot really and you’d just have to pay for any pictures you want.”

“Sounds great!” Josh agreed, to the enthusiastic nods of the girls. “I think you’ve got yourself two more customers for your session!”

“Awesome!” the elf grinned. “Well I guess I’d better get back in! Just wanted to make sure I caught you before you got to far!”

“So glad you did!” Samantha beamed. “So does that mean those two are going to be someone’s Christmas dinner too?”

“I’m not sure exactly,” the elf admitted with a chuckle, “but they’re certainly not planning to be around for next Christmas!”

“See you at three!” Josh assured her as she disappeared back through the flap into the marquee with a final wave and fluffy of blown kisses.

“Ooh this is so cool!” Amelia giggled as another elf handed Josh a sturdy paper bag with their purchases in.

“Totally!” Samantha agreed. “This is turning into an even more day than I expected! Come on,” she encouraged the others, “let’s no explore some more!”


To be continued...