Got a few Christmas presents from students today

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My sister spends like $100 on presents for her 2 young children's bus drivers, teachers, paraprofessionals, etc. As a middle school teacher she herself gets all sorts of great stuff from her students at this time of year. As a high school teacher. . . I typically get nothing which is normal for that level. High school kids really don't give presents to their teachers because they have 7 different ones each day, they don't like their teachers that much usually, and their parents don't necessarily have the money to buy extra presents. I was pleasantly surprised to receive some gifts today. I was given a candle, a WaWa gift card, a Bath & Body Works gift card, a Dunkin gift card, a chocolate bar, and some homemade cookies. I was so touched by that because I got them from students who don't necessarily talk to me on a regular basis and who really surprised me by giving me something. The most ironic moment was when a student gave me the candle. He showed me that he tried to push the lid onto it and that caused the jar to crack. . . so he taped it back up together. That was such a metaphor for my life this past year: I've been broken but I'm doing my best to repair myself. I kept the candle instead of throwing it away after the student left. I put it on display on the coffee table in the front room to remind me of that idea. I need smiles these days and today a handful of students helped me out with that.