Christmas in a shoe box

My favorite part of Christmas actually happens in mid-November but I decided to wait to blog about it until it was official Christmas season.  I am pretty much against anything Christmas before Thanksgiving Day.  However if you are going to ship Christmas around the world you have to get a little bit of a head start.  Operation Christmas Child does exactly this so the collection dates across the country are in mid-November.  OCC is a special program through Samaritan’s Purse in which people throughout the US fills a shoe box with gifts to send to children overseas who may not get gifts for Christmas or birthdays, etc. My family participated growing up and I have continued to put together a few boxes each year.  This year I am also mentoring 4 8^th grade girls who wanted to go shopping as one of our activities.  I’m not a big shopper but decided I would take them “shopping” for OCC.  We discuss what some good gifts for girls their ages would be but also how needs and wants are different in third world countries.  They were also good sports and decided to shop for boys in the same age range since OCC reports that they don’t receive enough boxes for boys in the 10-14 year old category.  

We picked up basic items like tooth paste and tooth brushes, soap and wash cloth, school supplies and pencil sharpeners.  I didn’t realize how difficult it is to find a manual basic pencil sharpener these days.  For the girls they got hair items, a small mirror, and sewing kits and boys got work gloves and soccer balls.  We purchased underwear, shirts, socks, and sunglasses.  We found some silverware, bowls, and water bottles.  Our other fun items were flashlights with batteries, candy, and colored pencils.  Our next big project was trying to fit all of these gifts into a plastic shoe box.  One of the girls has so great spatial organizational skills and was able to pack everything just right with even a little room to spare. 

This was my first time trying to include a soccer ball in a shoe box.  When I went to South Africa several years ago the kids went nuts with new soccer balls.  What boy isn’t thrilled to get some type of sports ball for Christmas?  Arthur still says that his best Christmas present was a basketball.  To get a full sized soccer ball into a box we deflated them completely and folded them up.  We also included an air pump in each box to re-inflate them on arrival.  I had also never thought to include underwear before but I read an article somewhere on how a lot of older kids are very self-conscious about attending school without underwear so they stop going to school.  Everyone remembers what middle school was like—who can blame them.  I am amazed by how something as simple as new underwear can make a difference in a child’s education.  The final item I haven’t included before was nice water bottles.  I think my trip to Africa also influenced this as well.  On a few different occasions I went to the local water pump to help fill and carry water back for different events.  The women would wait in line for over 30 minutes for their turn to fill up their water jugs and walk miles back to their home.  As an athletic trainer hauling 10 gallon water coolers around I learned that hauling even small quantities of water is a pain.  In these villages there wasn’t a water available at school or church.  Also having a sturdy container with a lid to carry water with you is incredible handy.   

I struggle with gift-giving in general at Christmas.  What do you get for people who for the most part have everything they need/want?  I think that is the beauty of making a shoe box.  I know these kids need so much and will appreciate even the small items in these shoe boxes.  Also as a person who can get lost daydreaming for hours looking at a map of the world wondering what it would be like to live or travel to different lands, I find it amazing that a box of small items from Kansas could bring delight and a symbol of the gift of salvation through Christ to a kid somewhere across the expanse of the globe.  Christmas time is about peace on earth and goodwill toward men—is there a better was to spread peace and goodwill than sending soccer balls and crayons around the world?  Omnia Vincit Amor. 

**Even though the collection date has passed it is still possible to help.  You can build a shoe box online.  (It looks ten times easier than shopping with middle school girls) or donate here for The Greatest Journey which is the discipleship program that many churches do with kids who receive the shoe boxes.**