Year Three, Almost Free 17: Merry Christmas and a Hot Pot

Hello, Tim!
With the countdown for the GSAT reaching thirty-four days, we have only less than five weeks to prepare.
Before that, however, comes Christmas.
(This will be yet another short letter.)

Third Christmas with EHP

Let's stroll a little down memory lane. The first year we entered EHP, we were asked to hold a Christmas party for us and the seniors from both the in the second year and the third. The year after that, Patrick came to school in his own Santa costume, and we had a present exchange, in which Amy gave me a book I really wanted, and Angela helped me pick out a purple purse for Candy. This year was almost going to be lacking any sort of celebration. We didn't even have the spare time for buying presents this time!
One day, by the Christmas tree and under the glowing lights, an idea came to us.
"Christmas is coming, and so is the winter solstice... let's have a hot pot party." One said. Maybe it was meant to be a half-hearted idea, so it was strictly forbidden to have a fire lit up in the classroom and is also against the rules to have any other sort of heating device. Nevertheless, the idea caught on before long. I guess we were all desperate for something to do to make this Christmas special, and the fire in our heart kindled excitedly but gently.
It was winter solstice. A very sunny, beaming, hot winter solstice.
In an eccentric efficiency for is, we all had brought what we were supposed to prepare. A hot pot in the making has never been hard. All there is to do is turn on the fire and put all ingredients into the pot. The difficult part about cooking in the classroom when it was illegal in school is to hide the portable gas stove and the pot together. (Well, o forgot to mention that we still asked for Ms. Summer's permission, who simply told us to be careful and have fun. She is a cool teacher, isn't she?) There are no curtains to block the pot from the view of the outsiders, so whenever a teacher walls past our classroom, we would make a wall out of ourselves circling the pot to cover it lest it be seen.
This winter solstice is hot, but it wasn't the reason our hearts were warm.

Merry Christmas, Tim!

Sincerely,
Hugo