What's A Christmas-Gram? I Want One!

"Guys? Guys, can you please calm down for a second?"

The excited, bubbling class of second graders settled distractedly in their seats, glancing around the room one last time before their eyes finally went back to their teacher. Mrs. Farnham sighed lightly as she offered them a smile, and the class willingly grinned toothy grins back at her.

"All right, guys, I know you're all excited for Christmas, right?" The resounding shout of glee in the room was more than enough for an answer and Mrs. Farnham laughed softly, continuing once they quieted down, "Well, I thought since this is the last day before Christmas break we could make Christmas-Grams."

The class burst into excitement again, a flurry of hands flying up in the air.

"What's a Christmas-Gram, Mrs. Farnham?" Lucy Gropp asked instantly.

"Can I make more than one?" Cody Knisley piped in.

"Christmas-Grams are like homemade Christmas cards, Lucy. You make them for your friends and family. And yes, Cody," she smiled over at the boy, "you can make as many as you want. Now, there's paper and markers over on the table by the door." Mrs. Farnham motioned towards it, her smile growing. "Have fun!"

Kelsi Nielsen blinked in subtle surprise as the desks and chairs around her screeched with the sound of her classmates clambering towards the table. She shifted slightly in her seat, sinking even further down in her seat as she pulled her father's oversized hat down over her eyes. It wasn't until the other students had all returned to their seats (or more accurately sat with their friends) that she stood up, making her way to the crafts table and looking through all the paper and marker colours. She bit her lip gently, her hand hesitantly reaching towards the marker box when a new voice piped in from behind her.

"Can you get me a red?"

Kelsi jumped, twirling around with a purple marker clenched firmly in her grasp to stare at the one of the two newest kids in the school, a small blonde boy that was currently smiling brightly at her from under his hat. "Uhm, I, uh... huh?"

"A red marker?" He pointed to the box. "Please? I need it for my Gram." Kelsi nodded hastily, quickly reaching towards the box and picking one up. She held it out for him with a blush and he flashed another smile at her as he took it. "Thanks!"

"Welcome," Kelsi murmured, quickly turning her back to him as she picked out the rest of her colours. She headed back to her seat, plopping down and instantly starting to work on the Gram for her dad. She was only vaguely aware of someone moving to sit next to her when she heard the shuffling of their paper.

"I like your hat," the same boy told her and she glanced up at him with a perplexed look. He was still wearing the same smile and he reached up to tilt his hat slightly to the left. "Who are you making your Gram for?"

"My Dad," Kelsi told him quietly as she turned her face back to the paper, scribbling at it furiously. "He likes Prancer, so I'm drawing him a reindeer."

"I like Prancer too, he sounds like he likes to dance and dancing is fun." The boy nodded as if affirming it to himself before adding, "Do you like to dance?"

"I dunno," Kelsi murmured, her face tinting red again. "I never have."

"It's fun," he repeated. "You should try it." He glanced over at her, down at his Gram, and back. "Say, what's your name?"

"Um--" Kelsi glanced up at him in surprise before looking down at her card. "Dad says I shouldn't give my name to strangers."

"Well, that's okay." He stuck out his hand to her. "I'm not a stranger, I'm Ryan!"

Kelsi couldn't stop the smile that quirked at her mouth as she shook his hand. "I'm Kelsi." Ryan beamed at her, releasing her hand in favor of a marker.

"That's a pretty name," he told her as he scribbled something down quickly on his card. He gave it a quick glance over before nodding to himself and folding it, handing it to her. "Merry Christmas, Kelsi!"

Kelsi took it in her hands, glancing wonderingly at the quickly drawn Christmas tree on the front. "For me?"

"She said you could give it to your friends so I wanted to give it to you," Ryan rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly before standing up. "I have to go back to my sister now, but I hope you like it!" He jogged to the front of the classroom in an instant, sitting next to a girl whom Kelsi guessed was his sister and her eyes instantly flicked back to the card in her hands. She opened it eagerly, a wide smile spreading across her face.

To Kelsy,

my first freind here!

Thanks for geting me the red!

Mery Christmas!

From Ryan

Kelsi had to admit that "my friend Ryan" had a nice ring to it.


I'm not sure why I wrote this when they were younger, but for some reason I did. I wasn't exactly sure at what age Ryan and Sharpay moved to Albuquerque, but I figured it was at a fairly young age so I'm just going with part of the way into second grade.

I always pictured Ryan to be the type of kid that thought up of good conversation topics and just being, overall, friendly and Kelsi, despite her shyness, always pegged me as the type who would respond at least fairly easily to that type of personality even as a child.

So yeah, I hope you guys liked this! I really need to start cranking these out if I plan on finishing before Christmas, lol. I don't even know if that's possible if I do one a day. I don't think it is. Before New Years, then. :)

Reviews=love!

-WS