All he wanted for Christmas two years ago was a puzzle. The $300 puzzle measured 16 feet long and 5 feet tall, consisting of 24,000 pieces. At the time, it was the world’s largest puzzle. American history teachers Jason Gray and Ryan Victor are now determined to complete the puzzle together that Victor received from his family.They started working on the puzzle the following summer in an empty room in Victor’s house. They said they were really excited to “puz it up” together.

“Mr. Gray’s the best,” Victor said. “He’s my best buddy. He’s as into the puzzle as I am, so I love spending hours up there working on that puzzle with him.”

Gray says he does not always have time to go work on the puzzle during the school year, but he is sure they will get together to work on it at least once this winter break.

“[Victor has] gotten really good at it, because he works on it a lot more than I do,” Gray said. “He can just see a piece and he’ll go over and put a piece right in.”

They started with sorting puzzle pieces, which took months. To make the puzzle more of a challenge, they decided to not look at the completed picture on the box.

“The challenge is the fun part,” Victor said. “I’m really excited to get it done and be able to say I’ve done [what was] at one point the largest puzzle in the world.”

Victor says he loves working on the puzzle, because it relaxes him.

“I’m one of those people that goes upstairs, shuts my brain off and just works on a puzzle for a few hours,” Victor said. “I can just sit up there and get all those pieces put together. And it’s glorious.”

Whenever the teachers tell others about the puzzle, Victor says people either think it is really cool or really lame.

“Some people just don’t get puzzles,” Victor said. “They think it’s stressful, and it freaks them out. But a lot of people think it’s super cool, and once I tell them it’s 24,000 pieces, they’re pretty impressed by that.”

Gray is sure they will complete the puzzle within the next two years, but they are not sure what they are going to do once they finish. Victor, who has spent a lot of time working on the puzzle, says he will have to find something else to do in his free time.

“I imagine it’s going to be a sense of excitement and fulfillment and achievement, yet at the same time, melancholy,” Gray said. “I don’t know if I’d ever do another puzzle like this again. [But] we have plenty of other reasons to get together. It shouldn’t be too bad.”

Both teachers say they really have loved working on the giant puzzle together, and they are not embarrassed to tell people about their goal of completing it.

 “It sounds totally nerdy,” Victor said. “But I’m okay with being a little geeky. I want to do it, so I don’t care what other people say.”