The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School girls field hockey team must have put this on last year’s wish list: Please let us have a winning season, and proceed to the postseason full of glory, then go on to win the state championship. Or at least, almost. Of course they did it all without Santa’s help — a winning season, and marching right into the postseason to win playoff games against Mashpee and Monomoy before losing to Cohasset 1-0 in the sectional semifinals.
We’re proud of them. Times intern and MVRHS field hockey player Sophia McCarron surveyed her teammates about this year’s wish list, and favorite winter memories.
Livie Jacobs, Vineyard Haven, 17, senior
My perfect Martha’s Vineyard winter day looks like a massive blizzard with all of the roads shut down. My three best friends and I pile massive amounts of winter gear on our bodies, and head out to my yard. We gleefully slide down my driveway, and then get right to work on the igloo of our dreams. My mom calls us in every two hours for homemade hot chocolate and the thawing of our appendages. We laugh all night. Lucky for me, this perfect day happens almost every year.
The best thing I eat over the holidays is one of my mom’s infamous “cookie day” cookies. Every year, she and her best friend sit in my kitchen and make over a thousand cookies to give to friends and family. They range from peanut butter balls (a favorite) to jam thumbprints, to dark chocolate sea salt crisps. Throughout the winter, I sneak the cookies she thought she was saving from our basement freezer (shh).
Genny Kent, Vineyard Haven, 15, sophomore
For Christmas I’d love to get a pony named “May!”
A big gift I’d give to Martha’s Vineyard is to have all litter removed from streets, bike paths, and beaches.
The best thing I eat over the holidays is sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top.
Perfect off-season day: Drive to Aquinnah, see the Cliffs, get Chilmark Chocolates, hike through the woods, and walk with my dogs!
Beth O’Connor, Oak Bluffs. Assistant varsity coach/goalie coach
I can’t think of one best present I ever got … I just love Christmas because it reminds me of my mom and how much she loved it.
Goatscaping to my sister and husband was the best gift I ever gave. Great entertainment at the home, and they ate all the ivy my sister hates.
The thing I want this year is to be able to run again.
If I could give a big gift to Martha’s Vineyard, I would ask for the beaches to stop eroding.
Green bean casserole is my favorite thing to eat over the holidays.
Lisa Knight, Oak Bluffs, head coach
The perfect day off-season day would be going to any beach, no parking, people, or trespassing issues, and picking up sea glass!
The best present I ever got was a ventriloquist doll. My brother and I each got them, and thought they were amazing. One year I built a dollhouse for my niece, decorated it, and put Christmas lights on it so when she saw it, the house was all lit up. I worked a long time on it, and she loved it. This year all I want is to be in good health — myself, and all those who need it.
A gift for Martha’s Vineyard? There’s nothing better than health, happiness, and love!
Ashley Wood, Vineyard Haven, 17, junior
I have to say my favorite Christmas gift is when my dad surprised me and my brother with an English bulldog, because I always wanted a dog. We rescued her, so it made it even more special.
I gave my grandma a really pretty tablecloth from Rainy Day because she always does everything for me; I thought it would be nice to give her something super-nice in return for her kindness.
My favorite thing during the holidays is when my mom makes broccoli and cheese.
My idea of a perfect off-season day on Martha’s Vineyard is definitely grabbing a hot beverage at Mocha Mott’s and going for a quick beach walk!
Danielle Hopkins, Oak Bluffs, 16, junior
The best gift I ever gave was a pair of owl earrings to my grandma, who loves owls.
A big gift to Martha’s Vineyard would be a huge place to hold Island-wide meetings and functions.
The best thing I eat over the holidays is my mom’s pumpkin pie she makes for Christmas.
The perfect winter day would be a snow day and going sledding all day; no school.
Emma Caron, captain, Oak Bluffs, 17, senior
One year I got a gymnastics bar from Santa. It was awesome. I was really into gymnastics then, and I was doing flips and all kinds of stuff on it.
One year I gave my dad a three-pound bag of Jawbreakers. He really likes Jawbreakers, but only ever got the small bags, so I got him the biggest bag I’d ever seen.
If I could give a gift to the Island, it would be either solar panels or a Dunkin’ Donuts. Solar panels because they are going to power the world one day, and Dunkin’ Donuts because who doesn’t want Dunkin’ Donuts?
Best holiday food: My grandma makes these cookies where you have chocolate and caramel drizzled over shortbread and they’re cut into diamonds. When you bite into them, the chocolate and caramel have hardened so they’re crunchy and sweet.
A perfect winter day, well, sledding would be a lot of fun, but if there wasn’t snow, then I’d want it to be one of those days when the sky is really blue but it’s still cold out. I’d wake up at 7 am — I’m a really early riser — and go for a run. Then I’d go to the Black Dog for breakfast and bring someone so they could order red, white, and blue pancakes and I’d get an omelette, and then I could eat both. After that, I’d probably go home and have a long shower. Then I’d take a walk around town, come home and watch movies while drinking hot chocolate, and at that point it would have started to snow.
Lee Hayman, captain, Edgartown, 17, senior
Best Christmas present ever: Last year my little sister made me a framed picture of us at this concert called the Jingle Ball. It’s this big 3D frame, and she wrote memories all over it from the year. It’s on my dresser at my mom’s house, and it’s the first thing I see every morning.
Best present I ever gave: I know the present that took me the longest — one year I tried to make all my friends gifts. I made homemade hot chocolate mix and put it in Mason jars and decorated the outside. I thought it would be simple; how hard can hot chocolate mix be? It took me weeks. I had an entire half of my living room dedicated to crafting these Christmas presents. Never again.
When I was little I used to hate this, but now every year I make the cranberry sauce, and it’s my favorite. I still make my mom buy the Ocean Spray kind, though, because it’s so good.
A gift for the Island would be a turf field for the high school. Any kind of athlete would benefit from it; the whole high school would benefit. It would bring us into a whole new level of competition.
A perfect winter day: I love going to Espresso Love, because they have the best coffee and I’m a coffee addict. I’d probably go for a walk with Ajax, my weiner dog, and a friend around Lighthouse Beach in Edgartown. It’s such a pretty loop.
Belle Dinning, captain, Oak Bluffs, 17, senior
Last year my little sister, Lila, drew a picture of the two of us, and it just made my day. It was this little kid drawing and really cute.
Best present I ever gave: Last year I donated money to the Save the Elephants fund in my friend, Zana’s, name, and it made her really happy.
A gift for the Island: A bridge to Falmouth. It would be so nice not to have to deal with the boat for away games.
My mom makes these twice-baked potatoes with bacon on them that are so good!
What would be your perfect winter day?
Snuggled up in bed with coffee watching Netflix.
Sara Poggi, captain, Edgartown, 17, senior
Every year I look forward to the hot chocolate at Murdick’s Fudge. Plus, you can’t have a winter without peppermint bark.
My perfect winter day would be waking up to fresh snow, going sledding with friends and then coming home to the fire and watching Christmas movies.
My favorite present I ever got was my keyboard. I started playing piano when I was young. It was hard on a folding keyboard, and grand pianos were out of the price range, so one year Santa brought me a super-nice Yahama keyboard. I could not stop playing that day, and still use that keyboard to play now.
Sarah Thomas, Oak Bluffs, 17, junior
The perfect off-season winter day on Martha’s Vineyard: I love it during December, when all of the stores have Christmas decorations out. One of my favorite things to do is to go Christmas shopping when a lot of the stores are giving out hot cider and cookies, so you really get to take in all of the joy of the holiday season.
My favorite thing to eat over the holidays is monkey bread, which is a sticky bread-type breakfast treat with cinnamon. My mom makes it every year on Christmas morning, and it is absolutely delicious. Plus, this is something we’ve been doing for my whole life, so it has become a family tradition.
Sally Caron, Edgartown, 14, freshman
The best Christmas gift I’ve ever gotten was in third grade, an American Girl doll trailer, because it’s huge, and I still to this day think it’s one of the coolest things in the world.
My idea of the perfect off-season day on Martha’s Vineyard is to sit around the house and drink hot cocoa with my sister Emma.
