Christmas in November

 It's that time of year.... Time to pack a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child!

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/Pack_A_Shoe_Box/

For the past several years, the kids and I have participated in this program, where you pack an empty shoebox full of toys and other items to be mailed to a needy child somewhere in the world.

We have a lot of fun doing this.  One afternoon, we head out to the dollar store with our shoeboxes and start shopping.  Some items that are suggested for purchase are small balls, crayons, pencils, small notebooks, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, a comb or brush and hard candy.  They do not allow chocolates, liquid, used items or war type toys.  We set a budget, usually $10 per box, and start placing the items in the shoebox to make sure we get enough things but not too much.  When we get home, we pack each box and add a check for $7 for each box in shipping costs and it's ready to be brought to church and then on to Samaritan's Purse for delivery to a child somewhere in the world who may not otherwise get anything for Christmas.

This year I wasn't sure if we'd be able to participate in Operation Christmas Child.  It may sound silly to say we couldn't afford the $35 or so that it would cost to fill and ship 2 boxes.  This year when my husband was promoted, he was no longer able to work the off duty jobs he had been working for 6 years.  There is a policy that any off duty work getting paid through the county can't be worked by anyone with rank.  Apparently, they make "too much money" when they get their pay raise with the promotion.  Because my husband was transferred to another division, the number of hours he now works in a year has increased (I think he now works a month's worth of hours more now that he's on patrol!) so it turns out that his hourly salary is now a whopping 12 1/2 cents more than it used to be!  So, we had a good laugh that he can't work that off duty job now that he'd have to be paid almost 19 cents more each hour!  Oh well, the government isn't always logical and we are still thankful he has a job when so many other people don't!  However, the budget is tighter than in years past and so anything extra has to be evaluated and that even includes charitable giving beyond our tithe to our church and monthly giving to a few places we commit to.

Thankfully, a check for the fall off duty work he is still allowed to work arrived and we are looking forward to spending some time at the dollar store today picking out toys that won't break and then packing our shoeboxes.  It's a simple way to have your children help other children while realizing that Christmas for the needy isn't about getting the latest and greatest toys, but about getting the everyday stuff that we tend to take for granted.  We can even track our box to see what country it ends up in or add a letter and picture of ourselves and maybe receive a letter back from the child who received our box.

So, if you don't already participate in Operation Christmas Child, please consider going shopping with a shoebox in the next few days and finding a drop off location by Sunday the 20th.  And if you do fill a shoebox each year, I hope you had as much fun as we did!