As a centerfold in Playboy, Jami Ferrell looks out from thin matte-finish paper, her chest heaving, crotch thrust forward.

There she is, semi-clothed. There she is, fully naked. There she is, on all fours.

Yet somehow, the Muncie-born blonde looks coquettish. It’s the same convincingly shy look she had one recent evening in downtown New Castle, sitting in a friend’s Italian restaurant, avoiding eye contact and fidgeting with a mozzarella stick.

The 34-year-old bombshell has graced the pages of Hugh Hefner’s magazine a half-dozen times and been in Playmate promotional videos, such as “Voluptuous Vixens” and “Women Behaving Badly.” But she remains the same socially awkward girl who grew up on a nearby farm in Greensboro, more at home playing with horses than Playboy bunnies.

Dressed tonight like one of Santa’s little helpers, Ferrell is attempting the debut of “Santa’s Stable,” a business run by renting out her herd of reindeer for holiday parties and events.

Ferrell started with one, Ruby, a misfit who enjoys the company of horses and dogs more than other reindeer, and has since bought four more. Two of them — Laurel and Ursel — stood silently in a temporary pen in front of the restaurant, as the subtlest of snow flurries fell, luminaries lit the sidewalk, and the smell of cinnamon and hot cider filled the air.

“Some people collect art works or cars or things they find beautiful,” Ferrell said, “but when you watch these guys move out in the snow and they’re really running, it’s captivating.”

The crowd was captivated, too, especially the rugged-up children wide-eyed at the pair of bell-bedecked reindeer. Ferrell can relate.

“I was a reindeer for Playboy once,” she said. “But these guys look a little more comfortable doing their thing, not trying to be something else or look the part, like I was doing as a little sexpot. They’re just being what they are.”

Ferrell was 22 when she first did a shoot. Working as a nanny living in Malibu, she couldn’t afford to join the riding and tennis club, so she appeared in the magazine in 1997 as Miss January, all 5 foot 8, 118 pounds of her. Although it was uncomfortable to pose nude, she doesn’t believe she was selling her body.

“It’s pretty foreign from who you really are as a person, kind of a fake reflection,” she said. “So you’re selling something that doesn’t really exist to begin with.”

Up until her last shoot in 2007, Ferrell estimates the magazine has given as much as it has taken. Childhood dreams inspired by National Geographic came true with a trip to Africa for a “Playmates on Safari” shoot. Following a spread with a Hoosier basketball theme, Jack Nicholson took her to a Lakers game.

Ferrell laments that the magazine rewards bodies that are more enhanced than natural. And she acknowledges it was difficult for her brother, particularly one day in class at IU when his professor unwittingly put an image of her on a projector in class while discussing sex and culture.

He has since enjoyed sharing the perks, including trips to the mansion. And Ferrell has returned home happy to end her “wonderful association.”

“I did my thing,” she said. “I’m pretty happy not to have to mess with it again.”

Christmas Sex Survival Guide

If you’re going to navigate every mall in town over the next couple of weeks, you’re going to need a release to get through it. Which is why about.com came up with a holiday sex survival guide, which we’ve distilled, repeated and augmented here in three simple rules:

Love thyself

All that gift-shopping will likely keep you separated from your significant other, too. So remember, our first, longest and most consistent sexual relationship is the one we have with ourselves. Sneak a moment to give the gift of (self-)love as a means of reward, distraction and therapy.

Give rather than receive

Too often in this crazy modern workaday world, we focus on our own needs, rather than the needs of others. Christmas is not only a time for giving, but for charity, so why not make the sacrifice and give the present you know your partner wants, whether it’s a night of amorous appreciation, or a backrub and a beer in a bubble bath.

Practice safe sex

On that trip home to stay with your spouse’s family, you’ll no doubt end up sleeping in your partner’s childhood bedroom upstairs — the one next to your in-laws’ room — for a full week. Appreciate the moment for what it is: a chance to re-live the sneaky trysts of youth.