Over lunch, Laura went through her list of things that needed to get done that afternoon so that there was minimal work required in the morning. She and Josh agreed that they would wash and peel the vegetables that evening and one or other of them could drive them over to the hall first thing in the morning so they would not be stuck in the kitchen for too much of the party, missing out on the fun and family time. It was agreed that the family and the guests who would be coming with them, namely Amelia, Amanda and Rob, should aim to be there about an hour before the others were due to arrive to make sure everything was ready.

“Oh!” Samantha exclaimed, noticing the expertly-wrapped presents under the tree, waiting for Christmas morning. “We should take Ella and Caroline’s gift over to them so they’ve got it to open in the morning before they come. Everyone else will have had their presents in the morning so it would be a bit awkward for them just to have theirs, plus then they’d be stuck getting it home and it’s kinda bulky!” Josh, who had been given the pleasure of carrying the Sidney’s play-set on the bus the day before, concurred and it was agreed that they would take the gift over before heading to the hall that afternoon.

“Amelia and Rob will likely have suitcases,” Laura observed, “or at least over-night bags and their party outfits so we need to make sure we leave room in the boot of the car for that.”

“Honestly I think everything we can take has been taken already!” Josh assured her. “If we get the ham cooked tonight like Sam suggested, we can take that with the vegetables in the morning.”

“Ooh, there’s a ham?” Amelia swallowed her bite of sandwich and looked intrigued. “I don’t remember a ham being talked about? Anyone we know?” she asked with a giggle.

“Oh yeah, you’d gone home by then!” Samantha was surprised at herself for forgetting to tell her friend about the unexpected treat, but, she told herself, if anyone could ever use the excuse of having a lot else on her mind, it was a her! “It was a gift from Emily and her mum. They gave us her thigh as a Christmas present!”

“Wow, that’s so cool!” Amelia grinned, remembering the meat-girl’s thick, meaty thighs and how she had watched the delicious pink meat cut from the bone. “Not as tasty as yours, of course!” She winked at Samantha. “But I be that will be delicious!”

“Mummy’s going to cook it tonight,” Samantha explained, “so you can have cold ham to go with your cold turkey in the evening!”

“Lucky us!” Amelia giggled excitedly. Every new idea or addition to the plan just seemed to make the feast she could look forward to even more epic! “Will there be enough room for everyone in the car?” she asked after a moment of reflection. Josh and Laura looked at each other, surprised and a little annoyed at each other for not having thought about this element of the logistics. There were only three seatbelts on the back seat of the car and, although it would technically be possible to squeeze four children in, they were acutely aware of the extra responsibility having a duty of care for children in the care system brought with it!

“Well I’m glad you’re here!” Laura chuckled, tapping Amelia on the end of the nose the way she often did with her family members, making the young girl giggle but also feel accepted and welcome, as if she were part of the family. “Tell you what,” she suggested, “why don’t the four of us drive to the hall, then the three of you can start unpacking things or maybe filling the stockings while I go get them?” This was quickly agreed and, while Amelia helped Josh clear the table and wash the plates, Laura called the home to explain the plan and the timings and Samantha took the large, rectangular gift across the road.

“Oh, hello dear!” Miranda smiled as she opened to the door to see her sweet neighbour stood on her doorstep with a Christmas present almost half as big as she was. “My goodness, what have you got there?”

“It’s for Caroline and Ella!” Samantha grinned, holding it out to the kind lady. “For Christmas!”

“Oh wow!” Miranda put her hands on her chest for a moment, over her heart, feeling genuinely touched before realising that the large box was probably quite heavy for the little girl and taking it from her. “That’s so kind of you!” she gushed. “Are you sure?”

“Of course!” Samantha beamed cheerfully. “We want everyone to have the best Christmas ever and when Daddy and I saw that, we knew they had to have it!”

“Well, colour me intrigued!” Miranda chuckled, giving the box a tentative, exploratory shake close to her ear from which she leaned nothing. “The girls are with their grandparents today, since we’re spending tomorrow with you,” she beamed, “but I’ll put this under the tree and they can open it in the morning with their other presents! Although I must say, this is by far the biggest!”

“Thank you!” Samantha grinned. “Are you looking forward to tomorrow?”

“Oh yes!” Miranda confirmed enthusiastically. “Very much so!”

“Awesome!” Samantha continued to grin. “Well we have to go get set up now. See you tomorrow!”

“See you tomorrow, honey!” Miranda managed to manoeuvrer the package in such a way that she could hold it with on arm and wave with the other. “And thanks again!” Happy to have successfully completed her Santa’s Elf duties, Samantha crossed back over the road and got in the car where the others were waiting for her.

Back at the hall, everything was thankfully as they had left it before lunch and Laura headed off to collect the others, promising to be as quick as possible.

“Maybe you ought to wait until Mummy is back before you try putting those up?” Samantha suggested gently as she saw Josh unpacking one of the snow machines. “She can at least hold the ladder for you!” A little reluctantly, his pride bruised but nowhere near as much as it would be if he fell off the ladder and needed to call an ambulance on Christmas Eve, Josh agreed and the trio set to work unpacking the Samantha cut-outs.

“These are so awesome!” Amelia gushed as she fixed the stand open on one which depicted Samantha as Sidney with her back to the camera. “I definitely want one of myself!” Giggling cheerfully, they got them all set up, set the half-size ones on the edge of the stage and lined the others up in front to be spread around the hall later.

“Oh!” Samantha exclaimed, looking at the one that depicted her kneeling with no other costume or accessories. “That one needs to be hidden for now. It’s to take my place on the display platter once I go to the kitchen.” Josh nodded and slipped it behind the curtains on the stage where nobody other than himself or Laura would be going until later on Christmas Day. It would be perfectly safe there and easily produced when needed.

Not wanting those who didn’t already know about them to see what was going in the stockings, even if most of it was already wrapped, Samantha and Amelia took the stockings and the bags of goodies up onto the stage where they could work secretly. It took several trips up and down the small set of wooden stairs to get all the present bags up but they worked quickly and were soon chatting happily as the filled the stockings, experimenting with their first ones and giving each other suggestions until, with fairly minimal trial and error, they found a routine, learned what needed to go in first, what could be used to bulk out the middle and what was safe to be tucked in around the top so that nothing would fall out. With the assortment of wrapped gifts clearly visible within the brim and the large candy-canes sticking out the top like a flake in an ice-cream, the well-stuffed stockings did look very festive indeed and Samantha glowed with pride when they were finished.

On the other side of the curtain, while they worked, they could hear scraping sounds and the occasional muttered profanity, suggesting that Josh was trying to move heavy things around by himself rather than waiting for Laura to get back or for the girls to be finished with their task. Just as they were finishing up the last couple of stockings, they heard voices and knew that the cavalry had arrived. Both feeling very pleased with their efforts, they went back down into the hall to greet their classmates who had sensibly worn casual clothes for the moment, bringing nicer party outfits with them. After hugs and excited greetings were exchanged, they saw that Josh had been trying to set out the tables according to the plan Samantha and Laura had come up with. He seemed to have done a reasonable job but Laura was now helping him shift them all slightly to the left to be more central.

Once this was done, all four children chipped in with setting out chairs around the outside of the horse-shoe formation, in the middle of which were two more tables, a long one and a shorter one so that it was possible to walk all around them, in the middle on which the food was to be served. Directly in front of the stage was another of the shorter tables and this was the one on which Samantha planned on displaying herself while she greeted her guests. It was important, Laura informed them, to do this sort of thing first so that they could be confident about the space they had for the decorations.

Next they took out another of the short tables and put it against the wall at the opposite end of the hall for the prizes then put the rest of the chairs either side of it along the back wall and started up the sides, trying to keep left and right fairly even, until they ran out of chairs. These could be moved as people needed, of course, and rearranged for certain games but for now they would provide somewhere for people to sit and created a kind of dance-floor space in the middle.

Intrigued by the bulky piece of machinery, Rob helped Josh set up the sound system, with the main box against the wall beyond the end of the chairs on the kitchen side, two of the speakers at either side of the stage, in front of the curtains, and the others in the back corners of the hall. When Josh put on a test CD of Christmas hits, the sound blared out loudly and clearly, as good as any professional disco setup.

While Laura covered the tables with the white cloths provided by the hall and added the red and gold table-runners down the middle of each “arm”, Samantha took the girls into the entrance lobby to set up what she called the “Welcome Zone.” In here they set up the saluting Sidney standee and the one depicting Samantha as a snowballer. To make the Sidney one more festive, Amanda suggested putting a tinsel garland around her neck like a scarf, an idea that Samantha enthusiastically agreed to, happy to see how her friends were getting into the spirit! Borrowing a chair from the hall to stand on, they hung fairy lights all around the entrance doorway and the doorway which led into the main hall and Samantha very excitedly showed them the snow projector which they set up on a small table that was really more of a plant stand that Amelia had spotted tucked away on the stage earlier, in the middle of the back wall so that pretty snowflakes were projected dancing across every surface. Along the outside wall was a row of coat hooks so they were careful not to obstruct these but positioned the snowballer just inside the door and Sidney by the internal door to have her welcome to guests through much like the animatronic at the restaurant.

To be continued...