Tradition
Spontaneous CircumstancesHello everyone, I hope you all have had a nice holiday break so far...this is a bit late, but better late than never, right? This was my attempt at getting excited for the holidays, despite not having anything special to do within my family. Enjoy!
I was Buddhist, so naturally I wasn’t supposed to celebrate Christmas. However, it became a tradition after my aunt began giving presents for me and my cousins. Growing up, I learned that Christmas had religious origins, but also learned that it was a very commercialized and materialistic holiday. Even for those who weren’t Christian or Catholic, many still celebrated Christmas and enjoyed giving gifts to loved ones. I suppose I jumped onto that band-wagon as well. I mean, who didn’t like receiving gifts?
Also, the mood in the air during the holidays was something to enjoy. Everyone seemed a bit nicer, more caring. The decorations beatified the shopping centers and the houses around the neighborhood. Even I enjoyed taking out our wreaths and signs, along with our synthetic Christmas tree to decorate each year. As us children all grew older, we no longer celebrated with the anticipation of gifts under the tree. Although it was nice if someone was generous to gift us presents, we were really all together to enjoy each other’s company, to catch up on each other’s lives.
Besides, now that we were all older, it wasn’t as easy to get everyone gifts that suited their tastes. All things possible were either too taxing on our wallets, or it was just unobtainable.
Things changed when I entered high school, and my friends brought up the idea of a “Secret Santa”. Each person would draw a name and whoever’s name we drew was the person we were responsible for giving a present to. Not only did this save money, it would ensure that everyone would receive a present. There was also a thing called a “White Elephant” as well, where everyone would bring in a gift of their choice. After putting the gifts at the center, everyone would draw a number that indicated their order in choosing a present from the pile. Gifts could be take away or traded depending on what the players wanted.
These games continued into college, only this time we had a much larger group to accommodate. There were also a lot of people I didn’t know yet, so that served somewhat as an obstacle. However, everyone was required to write down three favorite things under their name, so that helped. In this particular case, I was participating in a Secret Santa hosted by my culture organization on campus. This club had around 100+ members, although only half were participating in the game. 50 people still was a large amount of people to account for, and as I looked at the faces in the circle, I realized I didn’t know many of them.
After depositing my slip into the bin, I went back to my seat and waited for the others to finish their slips before we started to draw names. Once everyone was done, the box was passed around and each person proceeded to draw a name out. If they did happen to draw their name, he or she would drop their name back into the bin, scramble the remaining slips, and pick again. This continued till everyone had a slip of paper.
“All right everyone, you guys have two weeks to prepare your present for that special someone! We’ll exchange gifts right here on the 15th before going off on break. See you all then!”
I smiled as our organization’s president finished talking before standing up and leaving the venue. Saying good bye to several people on the way out, I took another look at my paper as I headed back to my dorm.
Lee Jin Ki
-Food
-Music
-Yellow
Well, he certainly gave me lots of room to work with, but it also was too much at the same time. He liked food, but what type of food specifically? And music was the same thing. The only thing that was decent enough as a hint was yellow. His favorite color was yellow, but did that mean I had to get him everything yellow? At least I had two weeks to think up of something before the exchange.
But two weeks, I quickly learned, still wasn’t enough for me to think of proper gifts. Amongst finals and school, I really didn’t have any time to go shopping for the exchange. I inwardly cursed myself for procrastinating as I stepped off the bus and walked into the shopping mall, hoping that I would be able to find something before tomorrow.
Taking a look at the list again, I figured the easiest thing was probably food. Sweets during the holidays wasn’t such a bad idea, and as I headed to the sweets shop, I hoped that he wasn’t allergic to anything. After taking several rounds of the small shop, I decided to get him a variety of milk, dark, and white chocolates. Luckily, the gift wrapping was free, and it looked better than what I would have done.
Now that I had one thing down, I wondered how I could knock the last two items off my list. Wandering around, I went into several shops but couldn’t find anything I liked. About to give up, I walked out of the most recent shop and looked across the plaza to see a display in the window. Walking closer, I realized that it was a yellow shirt, and it had music notes on it. Smiling at my luck, I hurried into the shop and tried to find one.
“Excuse me, do you have any more of that yellow shirt in the display?”
“No, that’s our last one. Do you want it?”
“Yes, please!”
With a smile, she went to the front and took the shirt off the mannequin before folding it and bringing it back.
“Did you need anything else?”
“No, this is perfect.”
And so she rang the shirt up. Exiting the shop, I went home feeling accomplished. Sure, I might not have gotten exactly what my recipient wanted, but at least I checked off everything on his list.
The next day rolled around and we all gathered again in the same meeting room for the Secret Santa Exchange. After putting all of our gifts under the tree, we all sat down around it and waited as the cabinet members passed out the gifts. I saw my gift being picked up and his name called out. For some reason, I suddenly felt nervous as he began to open his gift in front of everyone. No one would know it was my gift unless they noticed me putting that exact one under the tree, but I still grew nervous regardless.
“No way! I saw this shirt days ago but when I came back to buy it, they said it was sold out. I can’t believe this person bought it for me!”
Letting out a sigh of relief, I smiled, glad that he liked his present. I could now relax. Waiting for my name to be called, I looked around at others enjoying their gifts.
“Soo Min?”
“Here!”
I walked up to get my gift, and as I unwrapped it, my mouth fell open. I had been eyeing a particular music album for a while now, and now I received it.
“Did you get what you wanted?”
I looked up to meet the eyes of Jin Ki.
“Definitely! I can’t believe my Secret Santa bought me this…”
“I’m glad you like it.”
I smiled at him.
“Are you telling me that you gave me this?”
He grinned mysteriously.
“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. It’s supposed to be a secret, remember?”
“Right….”
I noticed that he had put on the shirt I’d given him.
“Did you like your presents?”
“Of course I do! I was really sad yesterday when I realized this was sold out. I guess my Secret Santa was one step ahead of me.”
“Well, I’m glad you like it.”
“Are you trying to tell me something now?”
“I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not.”
We both smiled and fell into silence before the club president spoke up.
“Thank you everyone for participating! I hope all of you received what you wished for, and that everyone has a fun and safe holiday. See you guys next year!”
And everyone started to say their goodbyes and left the venue, many of which would be heading home tonight. I on the other hand, would be leaving tomorrow morning. Gathering my things, I put on my jacket before turning to look for Jin Ki. Not seeing him after looking around, I decided to leave. I had barely stepped out before a voice called my name.
“Soo Min, wait!”
Turning around, I saw Jin Ki making his way up to me.
“I was looking for you in there but couldn’t find you,” he said once he stopped in front of me.
“Yeah, same. Things got a little hectic once everyone started leaving.”
“It was nice talking to you today,” he said.
“Yeah, you too.”
“So, are you heading home?”
“Not till tomorrow…you?”
“Same. Most of my suite mates are already home.”
“Oh, I see…”
We looked at each other awkwardly, not really sure what else to say. After a minute or so, he cleared his throat and spoke up.
“I was wondering…if you would like to grab some dinner with me?”
“You want to eat with me?”
“Yeah, I mean, if you’re not busy or anything. If you are, I totally understand! ….”
And he started to ramble on. Now that I looked at him, he looked slightly nervous.
“Jin Ki.”
“…and it is the holidays…”
“I’d love to.”
His eyes brightened upon hearing my response.
“Really?”
“Really.”
Christmas may have partly been about the gifts, but I think this Christmas, I’m going to like something…or rather someone, altogether.
I hope you liked it. Look forward to a New Year's themed oneshot coming up soon ^^ Until then, please Subscribe, Up Vote, or Comment if you haven't already.
<3 WinterRose
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