DECEMBER 21

"White Elephant Party"

Janet gave Cassandra a kiss on the top of the head before getting her on the bus Friday morning. The doctor had a late shift at the SGC, and SG-1 was off world on a mission. It had already been agreed that Cassandra would stay the night with Tessa. She boarded the bus with an extra overnight bag and a final wave at Janet who stood in the doorway.

The last day of school before winter break had arrived, but Cassandra didn't understand the significance of the day. She liked school and would have kept going year round without a break. Her friends talked about nothing but the upcoming break, however, and even kept an hourly countdown.

"My mom is picking us up today," Tessa said. Cassandra stuffed her duffle bag into her locker and slammed the door shut so the lock would click. "Kayla is having a friend over too so she won't bug was all night."

The older girl smiled indulgently. She didn't think Kayla was a pest, but Tessa would never listen to her. They parted ways at the diverging of sixth and seventh grade corridors and went to their respective homerooms. The desks had been rearranged into a large circle along the walls of the room. Cassandra joined Sharon, Elaine, and Dominic at a row of desks in front of the chalkboard.

"Are you excited?" Elaine asked. "What are your plans for Christmas?"

Cassandra honestly didn't know what Janet had in mind for Christmas, but she knew she would be learning more holiday traditions until December ended. She was saved having to answer by Dominic sharing his family's plan to go skiing at Aspen.

Their homeroom teacher Mr. Harris came in and called the class to order in his usual too soft voice. It took time for the students in the back of the room to hear him and cease their conversations.

"As you know, this afternoon we're having a holiday party in the gymnasium," Mr. Harris began. "So please turn in your gifts on my desk before you leave for your first lesson. You'll go to all your classes as usual until after lunch when you'll assemble in the gym."

Last week, the notices had gone out that part of the holiday party would be a White Elephant gift exchange. This had confused Cassandra until Janet explained that a white elephant gift wasn't actually an elephant, but something she already owned and no longer wanted or needed. Cassandra didn't have much of that type of possession since she'd received everything she owned two months previous, but she had found a suitable gift all the same. Before she left homeroom, she placed the wrapped copy of The Illustrated Aesop's Fables on Mr. Harris' desk.

Some teachers attempted to continue lessons or at least review the semester material, but most gave up and handed out fun assignments, such as word searches or crosswords, only marginally connected to their subject.

At lunch, Cassandra met up with Tessa in front of the cafeteria, and they took their lunches to the benches overlooking the snow-filled courtyard. The frosted glass felt cool against their backs, but the sunlight reflecting off the glistening snow drifts warmed them all the same.

"I think I have another Christmas tradition to teach you," the younger girl said. "But I've never done it myself. I heard about it on the radio. It's going to happen on December 28th if you wanted to go with me."

"Yeah, of course! I'll tell Janet we have plans. I know she doesn't mind because she has to work a lot and can't be home to teach me another tradition every day."

With that decided, the girls turned in their lunch trays and hurried into the gymnasium. The gym was decorated for the holiday with green and red tinsel, baubles, and snowmen. Long tables with bags of popcorn, miniature candy canes, and punch ran along the four walls. In the center of the gym, many booths for games stood waiting for students. They looked like carnival games more than Sam's crazy reindeer games.

As they entered, their principal Mr. Starvisk handed each of them a plain green ticket with a number written in black magic marker for the white elephant exchange. He said that would take place at two o'clock, and they shouldn't lose their tickets or they wouldn't get a present.

"Oh, no! I couldn't imagine not getting someone else's junk," Tessa whispered sarcastically.

"I don't know. It sounds kind of fun. I've never had a white elephant exchange before."

"Really? So is this your tradition for the day?" Cassandra nodded, and that seemed to change Tessa' mind. "Wow. I hope you get something good then. Some people are real jerks and bring in things like used erasers, but other people have some decent stuff like board games or books."

The girls wandered around the booths playing the carnival games and winning trinkets for prizes. Cassandra, it turned out, had fairly good aim without a blindfold. She won a miniature dictionary for getting ping-pong balls into fish bowls. Tessa was better at the games of chance, like the duck pond, and walked away with several costume rings.

At last, Mr. Starvisk came on the intercom and organized the students into lines to collect their gifts. As it turned out, the number on the ticket meant nothing at all. The harried secretaries from the principal's office took the tickets and handed over the first gift their groping fingers found in the giant collection crates.

Cassandra and Tessa went to the benches outside the gym to open their presents where there was less noise and pushing people. Tessa did pretty well with a secondhand Uno deck. She had three already, she said, but it could have been much worse. Cassandra slipped her fingers into the seams of her presents trying to mimic her friend and not reveal she had never opened a gift wrapped box before. She found inside a battered box of colored chalk.

"Ah, rotten luck," her friend observed.

"What? No! Not at all. Art supplies are the perfect gift for me!"

There was something affirming about appreciating an item someone else no longer wanted on a world as plentiful as Earth. When the previous owner could have dumped the chalk in the trash, instead he or she had given it to Cassandra who would use it to create art. It seemed the most beautiful thing in the world to her just then.

"Well, if you like it …."

The girls went back into the gym to enjoy some caramel popcorn and punch before the final bell rang releasing the students for winter break. The energy in the hallway crackled electrically as the students rushed to their lockers and out to the buses. Cassandra hung back by her locker to say goodbye to all her seventh grade friends and wait for Tessa. Mrs. Hammond always dropped her off and picked her up.

Kayla and her friend Andrea sat in the back row of the van looking over the gifts their third grade class had exchanged. Kayla had a cheap set of Barbie clothes, and Andrea held a Magic 8 ball. On the ride home, Mrs. Hammond stopped at the grocery store to pick up some items for dinner. She purposely let the girls' see the Italian sub buns sticking out of the top of the paper sack so they all guessed Mr. Hammond would be making his famous meatball subs.

At the house, Kayla and Andrea disappeared into the younger sisters' room while Cassandra followed Tessa into her bedroom. Both doors snapped shut at the same time and would stay that way all night except for when Mrs. Hammond announced dinner.

"Here," Tessa said. She held out a small box wrapped in silver paper. "I got you a Christmas present. I don't know if we'll get to see each other before Christmas, so …."

Cassandra accepted the box with a smile, and rifled through her own duffle bag before opening the gift. She had a box of about the same size for Tessa. Together, they ripped off the paper. Cassandra had made her friend several origami animals – a crane, fox, and turtle – from an Asian art book she found in the public library.

"You always try to fold your napkins into birds," she explained.

"And never can," Tessa laughed. She put the figures on a place of honor along the shelf holding her sports trophies and ribbons. "Thank you, Cassie. They're really good."

Tessa had given her a delicate snow globe. She lifted it out of the box and peered into the small glass ball. A miniature version of Colorado Springs, identifiable only because of Cheyenne Mountain, rested beneath swirling snowflakes.

"I saw that you had one in your room last time I was there. I thought you might collect them."

"I don't, but …. The other one, it's from my old home; this is my new home. This is the perfect present, Tess. Thank you."

The girls embraced tightly and sat down to plan out their sleepover – teen magazines, movies, and plenty of giggling over cute boys – until Mr. Hammond announced that "dinner is ready to be devoured!"