Chapter 1: The fill in Santa
It was mid-morning on the last Saturday before Christmas when Anna and her friend George pulled into the parking lot of the local community centre. They were there to help out at the Christmas art and craft activity day. It was essentially child care to give parents a break to do some shopping or to take care of Christmas preparations without having their children underfoot. As part of the event, the community centre also organised a small Santa's village where the children could see Santa and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Anna and George would be playing the roles of Santa's helper elves. They had gotten involved through Anna's mother who was heavily involved in a lot of community groups. Anna often got asked to help with her mother's projects but she didn't mind doing the Christmas activity day, she enjoyed seeing the children being excited for the holiday season and she got to hang out with George all day.
As Anna and George got out of Anna's car, George quickly began to shiver.
"Jesus, it's freezing."
Anna laughed, "I told you that you should have put some extra layers on."
George was mostly dressed in her elf costume, she had on some bright red leggings, a long sleeve forest green t-shirt, pointed elf shoes and an elf cap. The only concession she had made to the cold temperature was a black leather jacket she insisted on wearing despite the zipper being broken.
Anna was wearing practically the same costume but with green leggings and a red long sleeve t-shirt. However she also had on over the costume a thick coat and sweatpants, she was still feeling the cold but not to the extent that George was.
Anna opened the door to the back seat and retrieved a bag with the remaining parts of their costumes. When she locked her car she turned to George who was bending over and rubbing her legs for warmth. Through the open front of George's jacket Anna saw that her nipples were poking through her t-shirt, "George, your nipples are showing. Are you even wearing a bra?"
George stood up and looked down at her chest to confirm what Anna was saying. She then laughed and looked at Anna with a grin on her face. "Well shit. I am wearing a bra though. I guess it just isn't thick enough to hide them."
Seeing the worry on Anna's face, George chuckled. "Relax, the kids won't be able to see them once I put the rest of the outfit on. The tunic will be thick enough to keep my nips from poking through."
Thinking about it for a moment, Anna nodded, "Plus it will be warm in the hall so they shouldn't stay hard."
George looked at her sideways, "About that. It's not just the cold that's making them hard. I've been really horny lately. I think it's something about the weather, I just want to press up against some guy and have him fill me with his hot dick and if I can't find a decent guy, curl up in bed and finger myself to a couple of orgasms."
Anna blushed a little at how frank George could be about sex but it wasn't like she was particularly innocent herself.
"How about Mr Fischer? Would you take him up on one of his propositions?"
George made a disgusted expression, "Hell no! If he wasn't so harmless I'd have slapped his beard right off his face. In fact, if he 'accidentally' touches my ass again I will hit him." She chuckled, "That would be good for the kids to see, an elf slapping Santa Claus for being a creep. It would give them a lesson for life. Don't let creepy old men think they can get away with shit just because they're in a position of authority."
Anna laughed, "I'm sure everyone will appreciate you pushing a 'take no shit' message at a time of year meant to be about peace and forgiveness."
George grinned, "That's how the Man keeps us all down, by selling false narratives of togetherness so we don't question the rampant consumerism fuelling the decay of society."
That reminded Anna of the things one of their old high school teachers would occasionally say. The only response Anna could make to George's exaggerated anarcho communist impression was to shake her head and laugh. It did make her think though, while George was joking around she generally wasn't a big fan of Christmas. However for the past few years George had agreed without any hesitation to join her in being Santa's helper elves for the community centre's Christmas activity day.
"How come you keep agreeing to volunteer to do this with me?"
George was caught by the unexpected change in conversation and took a moment to reply.
"Well, I wouldn't leave you to do it by yourself. Anyway it's not that bad, there's free food and I get to hang out with you."
Anna smiled, "Thanks, It's really great getting to do this with you."
When they entered the community centre they were soon greeted by Jan, one of the centre employees.
"Hi Girls, it's good to see you both." Jan looked at Anna, "Your mother's in the back office with the substitute Santa."
Anna and George looked at each other in surprise. Anna turned back to Jan, "What happened to Mr Fischer?"
A concerned look appeared on Jan's face. "He's come down with some kind of cold or flu. When he called to say he wouldn't be able to come today he had a horrible cough. I hope it isn't anything serious and he gets well soon."
Both Anna and George nodded in sympathy. From a glance at George, Anna saw that she looked like she was feeling guilty after having called Mr Fischer a creep and saying she might hit him. Anna then wondered who had taken Mr Fischer's place.
"You said there was a substitute?"
Jan perked up a little, "Yes, I called your mother with the bad news about Mr Fischer and she immediately started looking for someone who could fill in." There was some hesitation in Jan's expression before she continued speaking.
"She arrived not long ago with the man she'd arranged as the replacement Santa following shortly after. I have to say, he seemed nice but I'm not entirely sure he's suitable to be Santa." She then shrugged, "But I guess we can't be too picky given the short notice."
Anna found Jan's statement curious and wondered who her mother could have found. She and George headed toward the back office of the community centre. There they found Anna's mother Gayle sitting on the edge of a desk looking at her phone. She looked up when Anna and George entered and smiled warmly.
"Good timing you two. Did you hear that Mr Fischer isn't feeling well?"
Anna and George nodded in unison before Anna asked about Mr Fischer's replacement.
"Jan told us you found someone to fill in. Who did you get?"
Gayle practically beamed with satisfaction, "You'll find out soon enough. He's just trying on the Santa outfit. It was lucky I was able to get someone this late, it would have been a shame to cancel Santa and disappoint the kids."
There were some footsteps behind them, Gayle's gaze shifted and then her smile grew broader.
"Ah there you are Christian, your elf helpers are here."
Anna's eyes widened. She and George turned around to see a man wearing a Santa outfit with a large belly trying to comfortably position a beard over his mouth. The beard looked good but the elastic running from the sides of the beard around the back of his head were an obvious sign it was fake.
The man's eyes flashed with recognition at seeing Anna, "Hey Anna, good to see you, how have you been?"
When Gayle had said his name Anna knew who had been coerced into filling in as Santa. With the beard and outfit on she hadn't recognised him, there had been a moment of doubt that it was who she thought it was but his voice confirmed it was Gayle's friend's son Chris. He was going to university out of town but always came home for Christmas with his mother.
She smiled, "Not bad, it's good to see you as well. When did you get back?"
Chris was about to answer but was interrupted by George speaking out first.
"Church boy, is that you?" There was a slight frown on George's face.
He turned to her, "Always a pleasure to see you Georgia."
The frown remained on George's face but was joined by a slightly nasty smile.
The smile on Anna's face at seeing Chris faltered slightly, the insincerity in Chris' voice was hard to miss. While Anna, George and Chris had all gone to the same high school, Chris hadn't been part of Anna's friend group. However because his mother was friends with Gayle, Chris had spent a lot of time at Anna's house and was a constant presence at her family's events. Even now, Chris and his mother came over for Christmas dinner each year. She liked Chris and had always gotten along well with him. However, he and George had always been kind of uncomfortable with each other. Anna didn't think there was actually animosity between them, their personalities just seemed to clash. To be fair Chris never instigated things, it was George who couldn't help needling Chris and he would never just let it slide.
George looked Chris up and down, "I can see why you would get asked to play Santa. It looks like you've let yourself go these past few years."
Gayle actually laughed at George's insult. Anna winced, it wasn't a great sign that George had started with a remark about Chris' appearance. With the fake beard on she couldn't tell how Chris had taken it. She was surprised to hear him chuckle before he took a shot back at George.
"I'm surprised to see you dressed so colourfully. Did they not let you be an emo elf?"
