Nyah Manansala, AP Government and Ethnic Studies teacher, recalls how Christmas makes him feel: “I would always look forward to Christmas when I was younger, definitely a little less now that I’m older and able to afford my own Christmas presents, but there was a hope and a sense of magic when I was younger.” Along with that sense of magic, Manansala’s excitement centered around receiving one particular toy for Christmas. “I had asked for a PlayStation 3,” he says. “I wanted to play games with my friends on it, specifically FIFA.” 

For many teachers, the holidays meant dreaming big. Don Burdette, US History and Psychology teacher, shared that as a child, he had always wished for “a new bike or a Hot Wheels race track” and expressed his love for “action figures and comic books. So anything related to comic books was a very big deal to me.”

Burdette reintroduces the joy, excitement, and the nostalgia that Christmas brings him and why it is his favorite holiday. “Christmas was and will always be my favorite holiday of the year. Because of the spirit of giving, the excitement of receiving and being surprised,” Burdette says. “For me as a parent now and a husband, the joy of finding those perfect gifts to give to people you love, and then just the license to give someone something they wouldn’t get for themselves is beautiful.” 

While some teachers dreamed of a new bike or a playstation, others yearned for gifts that expressed their own passions. Valerie Cañas Gonzalez, an English teacher, reminisces on her most wanted childhood toy for Christmas, “When I was a child, I really wanted a remote-controlled sports car.“ Though Cañas did not receive her desired toy for Christmas, she did not give up on her dream. “I might drive a Prius, and I might hit a few curbs here and there, but put me in a NASCAR race and I think I’d easily take first.”