Operation Christmas Child

Crowding around the computer screen, the kids are mesmerised by the sunny smiles and dancing children, laughing at them from the screen.

They're watching a DVD from Samaritan's Purse. A charity group that, at Christmas time, delivers shoeboxes full of delight, for those children that would otherwise go without presents at Christmas.

As a family, we decided that we wanted to be a part of this wonderful initiative, so we brought three shoe boxes home, and set to the task of filling them with beautiful and practical gifts, for a child the same age as our own.

I do sometimes struggle to give to charity in this way. The two sides of my brain wrestle in conflict, "Am I pushing the Western notion that Christmas is about presents onto the kids?" , then "Would my children learn more, by going without this Christmas, and learn that Christmas is about being together, rather than giving to each other?"

But in the end, my heart wins over my head. I watch the kids decorate their shoe boxes, and the effort and time that they put, into making it a beautiful box for the receiver. They cut, paste, draw and put love into that box. It seems to me that they are less concerned about the contents of the box, and more concerned about how the opening of that box, will make another little person, just like themselves, feel when they are seeing it for the first time.

That, is the spirit of giving.