by Suzy Kline
Miss Mackle laughed. “The price is right!”
“I know what I can do!” Harry blurted out.
Mary made a face. “It will be something horrible! I know!”
Harry cackled.
ZuZu raised his eyebrows. “Harry gives horrible gifts?”
Everybody nodded.
“Okay boys and girls. Let’s begin!” the teacher announced.
Sidney went up and picked a name first. We all knew who it was. He looked right at Mary. “Darn,” he said. “I wanted ZuZu’s name. I have something made in France at home. His Lebanese Christmas cake was French. He even knows some French, like me.”
ZuZu blushed. I think he liked the attention though.
“Remember what I said,” Miss Mackle said holding up one finger. “It’s a secret.”
At recess, Harry and I raced over to the Dumpster and told each other who we had.
“I have Dexter,” Harry said.
“I have Song Lee,” I said.
“Want to trade names?” Harry whispered. “I have a white elephant that only Song Lee will appreciate.”
“Can we?” I whispered back.
“Why not?” Harry said. “Nobody needs to know. We’ll keep it a secret.”
Harry and I did a pinky finger shake, which meant we would not tell a soul. Not even his grampa.
“Okay,” I said firmly, “our Secret Santas are a sealed secret now!”
The day before vacation everyone brought wrapped gifts to class. We were pretty excited to find out who our Secret Santas were.
Miss Mackle wore a red dress with a holly corsage from ZuZu, and a headpiece that had reindeer antlers from Harry. She had red-and-green striped candy canes for everyone.
While we licked our peppermint treats we watched each other open up our Secret Santa gifts one by one.
“ZuZu,” Miss Mackle said, drawing his name from the jar. “Here’s your secret Santa present!”
He unwrapped the Christmas paper carefully, folded it, and even saved the ribbon. When he opened the card it said,
Song Lee’s face turned red.
ZuZu unwrapped the gift. “Oh, JouJou will love these! Thank you,
Song Lee!”
We all stared at the white elephant gift. It was a stack of three colored pet bowls.
Mary’s turn was next. “I know this is from Sidney,” she groaned. But as soon as she unwrapped the white elephant, her face lit up. “ I love it!”
We all leaned forward to see what came out of the tissue paper. It was the doll Sidney had found in his Three Kings’ cake.“I thought I should share the good luck,” Sid said. “Like that Christmas song says, ‘Good will towards men’!”
ZuZu smiled. “That’s a really nice gift, Sidney,” he said.
Mary jumped up and down. “Thank you! Thank you!”
When I opened my Santa gift from Ida, I found a real kufi. The hat was made out of fabric, not poster paper. “Wow!” I put it on my head right away.
“It belonged to my uncle,” Ida said. “He said I could give it to you.”
“Thanks, Ida!” I replied adjusting my kufi. I felt kind of cool.
Everyone had to wait until the last Secret Santa present was opened to find out what Harry gave Song Lee. I noticed ZuZu was leaning forward to watch her unwrap the gift. He was really curious what kind of horrible gifts Harry gave.
When she lifted the surprise out of the box, she held up a jar filled with green stuff. The hand-printed label said:
As soon as she opened the lid, a terrible odor filled the room.
“It smells!” Dexter said.
“It stinks!” Sid said.
“It’s holiday slime!” Harry said. Then he flashed his white teeth. “It’s putrid. That’s what Grandma says. I love that word.”
“It’s a horrible gift!” Mary groaned.
“Eeeeyeeew,” everyone groaned as Song Lee poured a little into the palm of her hand. It landed like a solid puddle. When she put some between her fingers and rubbed it, the slime turned to powder. “Thank you, Harry,” Song Lee said. “I remember you made green slime in class last year with cornstarch and water.”
“Yup! But this is a special batch I made last summer. Mom let me keep it in one of her leftover Bell jars in the basement. All I had to do was add a little more water.”
“No wonder it smells so bad!” Mary gasped. “It’s been fermenting for five months!”
ZuZu cringed. “Your holiday slime is horrible, Harry.”
“Well,” Miss Mackle chuckled, “ it is a festive green for Christmas.”
Song Lee didn’t moan or groan like everyone else. She just giggled. “I like it, Harry. It’s stinky fun.”
“I knew you’d be the only one who would appreciate it,” Harry said.
I just smiled.
Harry was back and as horrible as ever!
Holiday Resources
Brady, April A. Kwanzaa Karamu: Cooking and
Crafts for a Kwanzaa Feast. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda
Books, Inc., 1995.
Carlson, Lori Marie. Hurray for Three Kings’ Day.
New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1999.
Chocolate, Debbi. A Very Special Kwanzaa. New
York: Scholastic Inc., 1996.
Chocolate, Deborah M. Newton. My First Kwanzaa
Book. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1992.
DuBois, Jill. Cultures of the World: Korea. Tarrytown,
New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1996.
Grolier Educational Staff. Fiesta!: Korea.Connecticut:
Marshall Cavendish, 1997.
Jones, Lynda. Kids around the World Celebrate!: The
Best Feasts and Festivals from Many Lands. New
York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999.
Kimmel, Eric A., editor. A Hanukkah Treasury. New
York: Henry Holt & Co., 1998.
Kindersley, Barnabas, and Anabel Kindersley.
Celebrations!: Children Just Like Me. New York: DK
Publishing, Inc., 1997.