As she positioned the standee, Amanda wondered how Samantha felt about the life-size naked pictures of her on display. Did she feel excited by them? A little shy? Yet in reality Samantha barely gave the nudity any thought. She had been seen naked by so many people in the past couple of months, and a great deal more in photographs, so it really was beyond being any sort of issue for her. In fact, her naked body felt as much like an outfit as anything else, a meat-girl costume, and, in the case of these life-size pictures and the ones that had been used for the souvenir calendar, postcards and assorted other souvenirs the party guests would be going home with, a sort of base-layer to which other accessories could be added to create different looks, a little like the silly Spider-Man figures where the web-slinging hero was depicted as an explorer, a scuba-diver, a mountain climber or park ranger but always with his traditional costume underneath! Undressing ready to show off her body no longer felt to Samantha like exposing herself but rather just putting on her naked girl suit!

Once the cloths were on, Josh helped Laura to set the tables with plates, cutlery and glasses from the hall kitchen. Realising a small mistake in their planning, they swapped the short table in front of the stage for a long one so that there would be room either side of Samantha’s platter for the welcome drinks – Bucks Fizz, Prosecco or sparkling red or white grape juice depending on what people chose. This table also got a white cloth and a red and gold runner while the table on which the food would be served was only covered with the white cloth. As a finishing touch, they put the decorative covers over the backs of each of the chairs that the diners would be sat at.

Once this job was complete, Josh hinted that he wanted to get the snow machines put up while it was still light outside and, chuckling, Laura agreed, following him outside to hold the ladder, promising teasingly to call an ambulance before taking any pictures if he should happen to fall off. Having looked for advice online, once the machines themselves were up, spaced about twenty feet apart but angled slightly towards each other so they would create the desired snow-storm on the lawn, visible from the windows on that side, he set up a reservoir tank on the ground with hoses going to both machines so that they could draw up the snow solution from the ground-level tank that he could keep topped up without having to keep climbing the ladder to replenish them. There was also a single control that would start and stop both at his command.

Inside, Rob and the girls put up the rest of the decorations, the ones that they could put up safely at least. Amanda took special interest in helping Samantha position the rest of the cut-outs. The sitting ones, the elf on the shelf and sitting Sidney, went at opposite ends of the stage, just to the inside of the speakers and overlapping the edge slightly in the ways that they were designed to do.

“What do you think about these two?” Amanda asked, looking at the remaining standees which were Samantha as Sidney showing off her rump and looking over her shoulder at the camera and Samantha as an elf. “Do you want these at the front too or should they maybe go at the back of the hall?”

“Ooh back of the hall sounds good!” Samantha grinned at the suggestion. They discussed putting them on top of the speakers but realised, with the vibrations caused by the loud music, they would likely keep falling off. After a little discussion and consulting with Amelia and Rob, who seemed to find looking at the nude pictures a little awkward, blushing endearingly when Samantha and his sister asked his opinion, they decided to move a couple more of the chairs and put the figures either side of the prize table.

Once Josh and Laura were back inside, they put up the rest of the decorations that required the use of a ladder, either the big one Josh had used outside or the smaller step-ladder that had been in the store cupboard, engaging Rob and Amanda to help them as much as a bonding exercise and way to get to know the siblings better as because they really needed their assistance. While they were busy with that, Samantha and Amelia fetched the stockings and set them out on the table, one on each place-setting, according to the seating plan in Laura’s note book.

With everyone working together, listening to Christmas songs from Josh’s sound system while they worked, the hall was fully decorated and ready for the next day in less than two hours. Samantha made a final inspection tour while Laura went to the kitchen to check that everything she expected to be there was and it was not long before both declared themselves satisfied. Facing the same issue of space in the car that they had discussed earlier, Samantha and Amelia agreed to wait at the hall while the adults drove Amanda and Rob back to the house then one of them could stay there with the guests while the other came back to collect the other two. This was, they realised, going to be an issue in the morning too so they had a quick discussion to avoid confusion and concluded the parents would drive Samantha over to the hall first and one would stay to help her get ready while the other went back for the other children. Their guests would have spent a whole evening and night there by that point after all and Amelia knew the place almost as well as her own home so Josh and Laura would feel more comfortable leaving the three of them for a short while in the morning than they would dropping off and abandoning the siblings that evening, even if they had been for dinner before.

Back at the house, Samantha checked the time. Just one hour to go before “Rosie the Christmas Turkey” was due to be shown. After a brief discussion, Laura promised that she and Josh would have dinner ready for once the short film finished and that the children should go up to Samantha’s room for the time being.

“I know we’re doing presents in the morning,” Samantha grinned, glancing over at Amelia who was still wearing her white leather hat and boots, “but can I give Amanda her ones from Emily now? So she can use them this evening if she wants to?”

“I suppose so!” Laura chuckled as the siblings both looked intrigued. “They’re in a bag on the chair in my room.” Within a second, Samantha was scampering excitedly up the stairs.

“Who’s Emily?” Amanda frowned a little, fairly sure she did not have any particular friends of that name, certainly nobody who would be giving her a Christmas present!

“A new friend we made at the butcher!” Amelia giggled. “You’ll get to know her very well tomorrow!”

“Yup!” Samantha confirmed cheerfully, bouncing back into the room, bag in hand. “She’s the trimmings to my turkey! All the meat tomorrow that isn’t me will be from her!”

“Ooh she got butchered?” Amanda asked, a little wide-eyed. “But why is she giving me a gift?”

“Well, it’s something she had with her that she wanted to pass on to someone else to enjoy!” Samantha grinned, holding out the bag. “And we thought of you! Sorry they’re not wrapped!” More intrigued than ever, Amanda took the bag and peered inside.

“Oh wow!” she gasped, reaching in and pulling out the hat. “It’s just like yours!” she exclaimed gleefully to Amelia, popping the pink faux-leather hat on her head. “And boots too?” She pulled them out in one hand then looked around for somewhere to put the bag. Smiling, Laura took it from her and she turned the boots upside down. “Just my size too! Well,” she looked up towards the sky, a playful grin on her face, “thank you Emily! I will wear them with pride!”

“You can wear them to the party tomorrow!” Amelia suggested. “If they’ll go with the rest of your outfit, that is?”

“Maybe I should just wear these?” the red-haired girl giggled. “Sidney style?”

“I will if you will!” Amelia grinned.

“Hey! I’m the one getting cooked!” Samantha cut in, hands on her hips and an expression of mock-indignation on her face. “The rest of you have to at least keep your clothes on until I’m in the oven!”

“Aww, if you insist!” Amanda giggled. “But yeah, I’d love to wear them tomorrow! My party outfit’s mostly white with some silver bits so they’ll go perfectly with that!”

“Okay,” Laura chuckled. “You four go play upstairs while Dad and I get the dinner on. We’ll call you when it’s time for the film!” Samantha happily led her three friends up to her room, pausing at the foot of the stairs.

“Don’t forget to cook Emily’s ham too!” she called over her shoulder.

“Don’t worry!” Laura assured her. “We won’t!”


To be continued...