All I Want for Christmas....

From the NYC Daily News.....

Jeannine Stathis and her first-grade class at the Chris Galas School in Broad Channel, Queens.

For Christmas this year, kids in still storm-stricken areas of Queens aren’t asking Santa for shiny new toys or expensive gadgets — they just want their homes back.

First-grade teacher Jeannine Stathis shared the heartbreakingly stark wish lists her students at the Chris Galas School in Broad Channel compiled.

They asked “to make lots of money for the people who lost their houses” and for “Santa to give me tools so I could help everybody fix up” their demolished homes.

“I wish my town of Broad Channel would have no more garbage so it would look nice again,” wrote second-grader Mathew Kinneary.

A gut-wrenching plea for normalcy tops most lists.

“I really want the whole world to be the same again,” wrote first-grader Brooke Arnao. “I just want everything to go back the way that it used to be.

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The project hit close to home for Stathis, whose apartment was destroyed by six feet of flooding when Hurricane Sandy washed over Broad Channel.

“I lost everything, too,” she told the Daily News. “So it was kind of easy to discuss with them because we were going through the same emotions.”

Stathis, who’s taught at the school for seven years, called the exercise “absolutely” therapeutic.

She and Dr. Louise Abrams, a volunteer computer teacher, came up with the wish list idea after reading fifth-grader Jesse Sanchez’ touching essay about the aftermath of the storm.

“I don’t care about presents this Christmas,” he wrote. “All I care about is people getting their homes back in Rockaway, and everywhere else that was affected by superstorm Sandy. I also wish I had enough money to help those who lost their homes.”

Stathis says her students — at least the ones who have returned to school — are slowly getting better.

“Some are starting to get electricity, water and heat back,” she said. “I’m sure it will be months before everything’s back to normal, but each day we’re making progress. Each day gets better and better.”

Others are back at school but not back at home — staying with family outside the city.

“I have some who are traveling from Long Island to school every morning,” she said. “And they’re making the commute because they miss their friends, and they love their school.”

The Chris Galas School reopened three weeks ago.