Ho! Ho! Ho! Here we go!

Even the elves have iPads. That's how busy things get at Merry Hill come December.

Forget magic and fairy dust, Santa's little helpers need techy tablets and digital cameras when it comes to organisation.

After all, they're manning one of the busiest grottos in the West Midlands.

A grotto that sees hundreds of families pass through each and every day. A grotto that has its own movie theatre. A grotto that boasts 5D effects. A grotto that, last but by no means least, is home to Santa Claus himself, who's busy making a list and checking it twice. On his iPad.

But don't think it's all about super-fast, super-flashy technology these days, the thing that keeps Merry Hill running during its busiest time of year is good old-fashioned elbow grease.

Like Muffin Break owner Eric Gray, who will have made 400 cups of coffee before the day is out, and Debenhams worker Nicola Buckingham-Thomas, who will serve countless customers during her six-hour shift, doing everything from advising hapless husbands on what to buy to carrying out makeovers.

Then there's Rob Ramsay, who runs the Quest activity centre, AKA the place where dad and the kids are entertained while mum gets the all-important shopping done. It's home to an enormous climbing course, miniature golf and an all-singing, all-dancing inflatable play area – all of which only add to Merry Hill's brilliantly bonkers atmosphere in the run-up to December 25.

But Christmas actually starts for the centre way back in June. That's when thoughts first turn to the big lights switch-on, special offers in the 220 shops, the decorations and much more besides.

Events manager Sarah Dodds said this year's Christmas lights switch-on, which officially marks the start of the festive frenzy, was the biggest yet.

"There were more than 7,000 people here," she says. "It was crazy. People came flooding in to see Rylan and Union J and as soon as those lights go on, the whole centre comes to life."

She's not wrong. As well as the aforementioned grotto, there's ginormous inflatable snowflakes and toy soldiers suspended from the ceiling, postboxes marked out for delivery to the North Pole and stores flooded with tinsel and twinkly lights. All staff in all shops are working flat out.

Weekend was invited along to the Brierley Hill behemoth on December 1 to see behind the scenes on one of the busiest days of the year.

Being a Sunday, the shops don't start serving until 11am, but by 10 o'clock there's already hundreds of people inside and the tills of the food court are ringing as people fuel up for the day ahead.

Eric Gray runs Muffin Break, serving up cakes, coffees and countless other sweet treats.

"This morning has been manic," he says. "I made a cuppa for myself when I got in and I haven't had chance to drink a single drop. It's just sat there on the counter looking sorry for itself.

"People come to us for their breakfast before the shops open so there's always a queue of people first thing. We are manic at this time of year. It's only 11.35am and we've already sold 140 cups of coffee. You'll be able to more than double that by the end of the day.

"It is all hands on deck. Everyone's working at full pace. We have a garnisher out the back preparing things but if the queue starts getting too big, they will come out to serve too. The customer always comes first.

"I do love it at this time of year though because I hate to be bored and doing nothing. Things go much quicker when you're busy, your entire day passes by in the blink of an eye when you're constantly serving.

Big-seller

"Although quite a lot of the people we serve are a bit stressed at this time of year, you can see it in their eyes, so it's nice to be able to help them relax with a coffee and a cake. Although some people are not too nice, they snap at you or throw their money across the counter, you've just got to get on with it though."

The big-sellers at the moment are toasted teacakes, chocolate muffins and a special mince-pie-muffin hybrid.

"The baker comes in at 6am to get everything ready," explains Eric, inbetween serving customers. "Like I say, it's manic but we wouldn't have it any other way." Another member of staff rushed off her feet is Nicola Buckingham-Thomas, who manages the Estée Lauder counter in Debenhams.

"If you didn't like dealing with the public, there's no way you would survive in this job," says Nicola. "It is hard work but I really enjoy it because I enjoy working with people and offering a good service."

Shoppers have been able to browse the store since 10.30am, meaning that when the tills officially open half an hour later, it's more than a little busy. Nicola simply does not stop.

"It will be like this until 4pm when I finish," she manages to explain as she serves one customer after another, even managing to fit in a foundation trial with 29-year-old Sarah Clarke from Bearwood.

"Our make-up sets and new perfume Modern Muse are the big sellers. I do get satisfaction from helping people and making sure they get the perfect present. So yes, it's hard work, but I really enjoy it."

The peak time for footfall at Merry Hill is between midday and 3pm, as anyone who's ever tried to get on the car park at that time will testify, and the busiest day of the year is traditionally the last Saturday before Christmas – a day when the staff at the grotto will be rushed off their jingle-belled feet.

Jamie Wright is the grotto manager, helped by his merry band of elves.

"We are completely booked up all day," he says. "Saturdays and Sundays in December are absolutely manic but it's a great job – how can you not be happy surrounded by smiling kids and elves all day?

"The grotto consists of a seven-minute 5D movie experience, which has 3D visuals, wind and snow effects and photos of the children themselves, and then the kids get to go through and meet Santa.

"We get people queueing up right from the word go. The days pass by in a flash. But earlier today we had a little girl burst into tears because there were no slots left to meet Father Christmas – like I said, we're fully booked up – but I had to let her in to meet him for two minutes, I can't leave a little girl there crying. It's nice to be able to do things like that and make someone's day."

Also surrounded by Christmas-crazy kids all day is Rob Ramsay, operations supervisor at the Quest activity centre.

"Oh God, it's crazy here," he laughs. "Every school holiday, every half-term, every teacher training day, we are completely packed.

"There wasn't much in this part of the centre before we arrived last year so it's great to be able to bring it back to life with so much activity, noise and laughter."

As we're chatting to Rob, there's children running and laughing in every direction, some are high above us on the climbing course while others are trying to make their way through the ballpit in the adventure playground.

"It's nice to see the kids having a great time," he says. "We get the kids and the dads here while the mums go off and do the shopping. The mums are smart – they've got it all figured out. But it's nice to watch that interaction between the dads and the kids, nice to see them having fun – especially at this time of year."

By now, there are hundreds of customers in the centre. The escalators are full, the tills are ringing and the poor Santa-costumed staff at Costa Coffee are running around like headless turkeys.

Outside, the car parks are full, with late-comers lurking to capture the elusive spots as the early-birds leave.

There's no road rage however, the shoppers of Merry Hill are always nice, never naughty.

We know. We checked with Santa himself.

By Elizabeth Joyce