Operation Christmas Child

It's that time of the year again when Christmas starts sneaking into the supermarkets. And so it's time to start thinking about giving gifts to people who aren't as likely to be getting anything in December.

This is my fourth year taking part in Operation Christmas Child, the world's largest Christmas project of it's size, giving shoeboxes filled with presents to children in need. Run by Samaritan's Purse, since 1993 this project has delivered more than 124 million gift-filled shoeboxes to more than 150 countries and territories.

It's super easy to join in. Grab a shoebox, decide whether you are doing a gift for a boy or a girl, and what age, then fill the box with presents. The guidelines are to include six gifts:

• Something to love
• Something for school
• Something to wear
• Something to play with
• Something for personal hygiene
• Something special

Borrowed from Operation Christmas Child.

This year Miss 4 and her friend Miss E packed the boxes and also wrote letters to the children who are going to receive the gifts on the colouring sheets supplied by Operation Christmas Child. And then we all bundled off to the drop-off centre to send the gifts off.

Make sure that you get your children involved in packing and dropping off the boxes; it’s great for them to experience giving and understand that not everyone is as lucky as they are. October is national collection month in Australia. Start packing now. Have fun packing and bringing a smile to a child's face.