AFTER CHRISTMAS JOY

The days after Christmas are always filled with a sort of excitement, everyone is walking around with their new gadgets or going shopping with all the money they got. It was almost as good as the days before Christmas.

During these days Shafan always watched with a sort of envy of those people, sure she got gifts and money for Hanukkah but no one went around asking her what she got then. Plus this whole break thing, everyone else got a break after their holiday but Shafan had to go back to school during and after Hanukkah.

It wasn’t fair to say everyone, surely there had to be some of Jewish people, but it didn’t look like there was any at A.L. High. During Hanukkah not one person wished her a happy Hanukkah, not one. Though to be honest, nobody really said much to her at all ever.

Which brought up the fact that maybe no one knew that Shafan was Jewish, so even the other Jewish people wouldn’t know to wish her a happy Hanukkah.

But one thing that Shafan did like about this time of year was all the Christmas Carols, her one guilty pleasure was singing Christmas Carols. Sure she was Jewish, but those Christmas carols were just so joyful and fun, she even liked the slower more serious one’s like ‘Do You Hear What I hear’, or ‘Silent Night’.

So even though the twenty fifth was just any other day for her, while her dad was at work she turned on the radio and listened to Christmas song after Christmas song, singing and dancing along. It was like her own little Christmas celebration.

But after Christmas when everyone else was still flying on their little Christmas clouds, Shafan was back on the ground watching as they floated past secretly wishing she could join them. Though to be honest, Shafan didn’t want to go around and boast about her new presents or go spend all her money on some new clothes or something. She just wanted to be floating like them.

This year she decided she would be, the day after Christmas she hopped on the bus and rode into the city where she was determined to feel a little bit of that after Christmas happiness, sure yesterday hadn’t been anything special to her but she was still gonna enjoy today.

She was not gonna go to the mall though, she learned her lesson the last time she thought that was a good idea. Instead she walked down the streets and did some window shopping, mostly. She did go into into a candy store and get some chocolate though, she couldn’t resist.

She was feeling a bit of the floaty feeling as she walked through the crowd, it was definitely a busy day as the street were full of people and their conversation flowed by Shafan. Up ahead she saw a group of girls she recognised from school, they were walking with their arms linked and laughing about something. She felt a little stab of loneliness and wished she had a group of friends to be with right then, but as she passed the laughing girl she let that feeling go.

It didn’t matter she was still having a good day.

After that she stopped into a Jewish restaurant and got some lunch. Looking around the room as she waited for her matzoh ball soup she wonder how many people in this room were actually Jewish or just liked Jewish food.

Then she saw another person she recognized from school, he was sitting with what looked like his family. He had longish curly hair and green eyes, she didn’t remember his name just remembered seeing him in the hallways.

Maybe he was Jewish, maybe she found another Jewish person who went to her school. She got a little excited and almost got up to ask him if he was really Jewish, but remember that she didn’t do stuff like that.

But as she was eating her soup a little later and he got up from his table and walked towards hers, probably in the direction of the bathroom, she decided to just take this chance and go for it.

“Hey,” the word shot out of her mouth before she had much control of it.

“Uh, heY?” he asked cautiously, and she knew that her didn’t recognise her.

“Hi, I’m Shafan,” Shafan started, “I recognise you from school.”

“Oh,” he nodded, “Hey, I’m Thom. Are you Jewish too?”

Shafan grinned and nodded.

“No way, finally another Jewish person!” Thom said, laughing. “Nice to meet you Shafan. I have to go, but I hope you enjoy your soup.”

Shafan nodded, “bye.”

And then he walked away and Shafan finished her soup in a little bit of that after Christmas joy.