A group of girls playing jackstones near the doorway quickly stood up and went to their seats. Grade 3, Section Rosal, always looked forward to Friday because of their homeroom period with Ms Ramos.

"Today is December 1,"she said with a smile. "Do you know what that means?.

A number of students in the front row straightened up in their seats. And nodded their heads. Of course they knew what it meant. The first school day of December always meant the start of Kris Kringle. Most grade-schoolers looked forward to Kris Kringle. This pre-Christmas activity added excitement in the otherwise boring routine of classes and exams in this all-girl school.

"Class Secretary?" Mrs Ramos turned to Nina.

Nina was a girl with hair parted in the middle to form two shoulder-length braids neatly tucked behind each ear. Since Grade 1, Nina had always been voted class secretary.

Already, Nina had prepared neatly cut pieces of paper, the size, small enough to contain a name scribbled on it. There were 25 girls in Section Rosal.

As if performing a solemn ritual, Nina walked down the aisles between the rows of chairs. In her hand was an old shoebox containing all 25 names written in little pieces of folded-up paper. There was an extra piece of paper which most girls prayed to get. This piece of paper had Ms Ramos. name in it.

ONE BY ONE the girls put their hand in the box and drew out one piece of paper. If most of them prayed to get their teacher. s name, even more of them hoped not to get Marijo. s name.

Marijo was not well-liked by the girls. She was one of the tallest and biggest in class. But despite her size, she was shy, and withdrawn. Her hair was recently cut as short as a boy. s after Ms Ramos had found lice eggs in them during health inspection. She had big, worn-out shoes (probably her older brother. s) and would come to school looking like she had already spent the day out in the sun. Some buttons of her school uniform were missing or were held by safety pins.

Last year, Marijo. s kringle was Nina. Out of the two weeks when all were expected to send their baby kringle little gifts, Marijo had given only thrice. The gifts weren. t even cute little toys, or trendy colored pens, or yummy treats. The first was a tacky rubber key chain of GI Joe. But the popularity of this toy soldier had faded a long time ago. Most toy stores didn. t even sell this stuff anymore. The other gift was a wad of local bubblegum, the type which stuck to the teeth and stained them pink .

By the end of that year. s Kris Kringle, Marijo didn. t even attend the revelation party. Nina had gone home from their Christmas program without a gift.

Nina passed the last row of seats. Now, only two pieces of paper there left in the box.

"Ms Ramos, you may get first," Nina said.

"Ooh, I wonder who my baby is this time," Ms Ramos half giggled.

Of course, another good thing about Kris Kringle is if a student ends up as the teacher. s baby. For sure, the teacher would send her gifts every single day.

The last piece of paper was Nina. s. She licked her lower lip while carefully unfolding the paper. Then upon readings its contents, she quickly crumpled the piece of paper. It read: MARIJO GIMENEZ.

"Yuck!" Rita wailed. "How corny!"

"Wasn. t she your Mama Kringle last year?" Betty asked while tugging at Nina. s sleeve.

Nina just nodded.

"I know. Why don. t you do the same thing to her," Rita said.

"Right!" Betty stepped into Nina. s path as they walked to the cafeteria. "This time, give her a used eraser or a. . .a stick of that cheap gum."

Both her friends laughed at the idea, but Nina walked on in silence.

The cafeteria was filling up with girls in the same green and white uniform. Most of the girls crowded around the glass counters for the candybars and crispy munchies. The last few shelves near the exit, though, were for school supplies and other items, like stationery and pencil boxes and the latest craze in hairclips.

By mid-recess, the grade-school girls were milling around this last counter to buy some things for their kringle.

THE NEXT morning, almost half the class crowded around the teacher. s table to put their gifts into a large box wrapped in recycled Christmas paper. Each tried her best to put in her gift without being noticed by the others. To be found out right away by one. s kringle would spoil the fun for the rest of the days.

By lunchtime, most of the contents of the box had already been claimed by their owners.

"Betty," Hazel, the class president called out, "there. s something for you here."

"What about me?" complained Rita.

Hazel searched inside the box and easily found Rita. s gift.

"Hey! We got the same things," Betty exclaimed while holding up three new pencils with a Kitty sticker on each.

"Maybe our mama kringles are groupmates," Rita replied, obviously pleased at the idea.

"What did you get, Nina?" Beth asked.

Nina was still searching the box which had just a couple of gifts left, probably for the two absent students for the day. The rest of the contents were crumpled sheets of pad paper used to wrap some gifts. There was also a dusty blackboard eraser probably tossed in by mistake.

"I. ve got nothing here," Nina said, pretending not to care. "Maybe my mama kringle is one of the absent girls."

ON THE second day of kris kringling, Betty received several butterfly clips while Rita got five Smiley stickers. Nina still didn. t get anything.

"Your mama kringle now owes you two gifts," Rita pouted out.

Betty looked at the side blackboard. Her eyes widened in mock horror. She cupped her cheeks with both hands and pretended to have an asthma attack.

"Oh, no!" Betty whined, "Nina, nobody. s absent today."

Nina looked at Rita. Rita looked at Betty. Betty looked back at Nina.

"Marijo?" the three of them whispered.

On the third day until the end of the week, Nina didn. t receive a thing. They were more sure now that again, Nina. s mama kringle is Marijo.

Betty showed off the lavender headband she planned to give her kringle.

"I. m giving my baby chocolate chip cookies," Rita also bragged.

"What are you giving Marijo today?" Betty asked Nina.

Nina shifted uneasily in her seat.

"Actually, I haven. t given her anything since Tuesday," Nina answered. "But only because I plan to buy the stuff this weekend."

"That. s okay, Nina," Rita said. "Anyway, she hasn. t given you anything either."

For the rest of the day, Nina thought about what Rita had said.

COME Sunday morning, Nina and her parents went to the supermarket after Mass. Nina still hadn. t told her mom about the kringle gifts that she needed. Rita was right. Why bother?

Nina wandered off to the toys. section while her parents did the groceries. As she approached the aisle, she recognized a familiar figure in blue overalls and a pair of worn-out, oversized black shoes. It was Marijo looking at some Polly Pocket dolls on the shelves.

"That. s odd," Nina thought to herself. "Marijo doesn. t seem the type to go for cutesie stuff."

"Marijo!" a man. s voice called out from the opposite end of the aisle. "Time to go."

A boy of about 10 years old stepped into view from behind the man.

"Marijo says she. ll need a bigger gift for her kringle next week."

"Sorry, kid," the dad said as he ruffled up Marijo. s short hair. "those clips we bought last time should have covered for the rest of the week. And those pencils! Why can. t ordinary Mongols do? The Kitty ones cost a lot more yet they. re both pencils.

"Never mind, dad," Marijo took her dad. s hand. "I. ll just send a box of mom. s old glassbeads. These are the fad nowadays, you know?"

"Won. t you keep some for yourself?" the dad asked.

"Me? Wear glassbead bracelets?" Marijo laughed.

Nina watched as they went to the cashier. s counter. They had bought only a few items, most of which were marked with an orange tag. These were the items usually put on sale every first Sunday of the month.

Later, in the car, Nina was quiet. She needed to do a lot of thinking.

ON THE SECOND week of Kris Kringle, Rita got more Hello Kitty things. Betty received a small box of glassbeads, and Nina got nothing, as usual. Nothing, if you don. t count the short note scribbled on pad paper. It read:

Dear Baby Nina,
You have been a good baby. Don. t worry, I have not forgotten you. There. s a surprise for you.
Mama Kringle

"Yeah, right," huffed Rita. "Bet you the surprise is she won. t show up again for revelation.

"Rita, forget about picking on Marijo," Nina snapped this time. "Maybe she just feels out of place."

On the day of the Kris Kringle revelation, everyone was asked to form one big circle in the room. Ms Ramos was asked to step into the circle and begin the revelation. On the floor, beside her was a huge box covered with silver paper and tied with a green and white bow.

"My baby kringle for this year was very patient with me. She did not have any tantrums nor did she complain about her mama. That. s why I decided to collect all the daily gifts. . .and more. . .into this Christmas box," Ms Ramos was pink with excitement.

The class "ooh-ed and aah-ed" at the size of the box.

"My baby kringle is. . . Nina Rivera!"

Betty squealed in surprise and Rita stared, open-mouthed, at Ms Ramos.

Nina, embarrassed and surprised at the same time, shyly walked into the circle.

"My baby isn. t here today because I learned that her family, that is her dad and brother and she, usually go to the province to visit her mom. s grave before Christmas vacation. But it. s okay because I got to talk to her on the phone before they left."

Nina tapped her fingers on the gift she was holding.

"My baby is Marijo Santos," she said. "But this gift I have here is for her baby. . .Marijo. s kringle is Betty Evangelista."

Betty and the rest of the class shrieked even louder. Rita. s face turned white in shock. Some of the girls clapped as Betty took her gift from Nina. From the shape of the gift, it was obviously one of those Polly Pocket dollhouses.

"Wow, this is cool!" Betty exclaimed.

"It. s from Marijo," Nina replied. "She. s cool."

The Kris Kringle revelation continued but Nina. s thoughts were with Marijo.

"Oh, Nina," Marijo had cried over the phone, "that will be the best Christmas gift ever! No other classmate would do that for me."

"Let. s just keep it our secret, shall we?" Nina said, feeling a lump in her throat as well. "Maybe when you get back from the province, we can be friends. Betty and Rita aren. t so bad either, you. ll see. They just need some reminding every now and then."

"Thanks Nina," said Marijo. "You. re cool!"