Christmas is one of the most special and highly-anticipated seasons of the year. While time spent with family and friends, giving back to others, and the overall spirit of the season are all things that are high on peoples’ lists of most enjoyable aspects of the holidays, most of us would be lying if we said that receiving gifts isn’t at least a small part of the anticipation.

One group of people that is heavily involved in our appreciation of the holidays is professional bakers. These individuals are responsible for so much joy this time of year, so we wanted to know what would bring them joy.

To that end, we reached out to accomplished bakers from coast-to-coast to ask the question, “If you could have one thing (no matter how big or small) for your bakery as a holiday gift, what would it be?”

We received several responses, ranging from useful equipment to skilled labor. Santa may not be able to deliver on all of these requests, but we will certainly pass along this information to the North Pole just in case.

Andrea Meyer, Bisous Bisous Patisserie, Dallas, TX – “There are a million practical things we all want from maintenance to packaging supplies, but in the spirit of holiday joy and Christmas miracles, I'd wish for a deck oven.  We don't currently do breads in house and I'd love to be able to!  That would be a dream!”

Jory Downer, Bennison's Bakery, Evanston, IL – “A dependable pan washing person!”

Rachel Crampsey, Montclair Bread Co., Montclair, NJ – “What we really want is an extra day in the week so we can all get a break but we’ll settle for a mobile wood fire oven from Maine Wood Heat!”

Chad Robertson, Tartine Bakery, San Francisco, CA – “A vacuum cooler.”

Lynn Schurman, Cold Spring Bakery, Cold Spring, MN – “An employee with a good attitude that wants to work.”

Avery Ruzicka, Manresa Bread, Los Gatos, CA – “A wood fired oven big enough to support a commercial bakery.”

Roger Gural, Arcade Bakery, New York City, NY – “A stollen packaging robot.”

Cheri Kovacic, Cheri's Bakery, Wichita, KS – “Dear Santa, I would like a new revolving oven! (and peace & good will...but an oven, a new fancy oven!)”

Joanne Chang, Flour Bakery & Café, Boston, MA – “Scraping arms for our big mixers, a cookie scooper machine that can handle all of the chunks of chocolate and fruit and nuts that we have in our cookies, and most of all I would LOVE a rounder for rolls that works for our doughs. We had a rounder that worked for every other roll which was of little help so we went back to rounding by hand. Such a great skill for our bakers but after the 10,000th roll I think they get it ;).”

Leslie Mackie, Macrina Bakery, Seattle, WA – “A stronger/ larger pool of trained pastry/ bread bakers. Staffing is our biggest need.”

Amy Scherber, Amy's Bread, New York City, NY – “I would like a very big stone hearth deck oven with a fully automated loader to fill and unload the oven—with a 10 year warranty on all moving parts.”

Josh Allen, Companion, St. Louis, MO – “A steady stream of applicants with a great attitude and a passion to bake bread.”

Beth Fahey, Creative Cakes, Tinley Park, IL – “We would like a second oven. Right now we just have one - a revolving tray oven. It would be nice to have a rack oven, both for back-up and to increase our productivity.”

Bronwen Weber, Frosted Art Bakery & Studio, Dallas, TX – “I would love a blast chiller for the bakery. We drop ship for several companies and this would make the shipping process much easier.”

Sally Camacho Mueller, Tesse, Los Angeles, CA – “My own chocolate room with all savy goiseau or selmi equipment included (is that cheating?)”

Dobra Bielinski, Delightful Pastries, Chicago, IL – “If I could have a gift I would like a program that uses phone numbers to get in touch with customers and text them specials and confirm orders etc…  I see my dentist using it very effectively to drum up business. It is a great way to communicate with clients as most people delete emails these days.”

Kamal Grant, Sublime Doughnuts, Atlanta, GA – “Rheon Cornucopia KN551.”

Drew Allen, Taylor's Bakery, Indianapolis, IN – “I would just ask for normal (healthy employees and nice weather).”

Zachary Golper, Bien Cuit, Brooklyn, NY – “If Santa could bring me a divider/rounder that cut even weights with minimal handling on the part of my bakers and made them all even and round without shredding the dough- consistently, every time, I’d be forever appreciative.”

William Werner, Craftsman + Wolves, San Francisco, CA – “Laser cutter!!! We make so many custom stencils and frames via a company called Pagoda Arts, some are for efficiency, some for presentation… but every time I am pick one up and see these machines I daydream about having access to it 24/7.”