Editorial: The real heroes of this season

Christmas time brings out the real heroes in our community.

Christmas is coming up fast - it's just over a week away now.

But the sad reality is not everyone can afford to meet all the expectations that come with the holiday.

Christmas is supposed to be about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ but somehow it's become hugely commercialised.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy giving gifts (getting presents is also a bonus), but it shouldn't be all about that.

It's a chance to get together with family over a meal to celebrate the day. Presents don't have to be big and expensive. Home baking or a voucher promising to clean the car or mow the lawns are often more heartfelt anyway and cost very little.

Making sure children have something to celebrate and be excited about is a bit harder.

Merivale School principal Jan Tinetti said students at her decile one school often did not get birthday or Christmas presents.

When a local company bought Christmas gifts for all the pupils almost half of the children decided to take it home so they had something to open on Christmas day instead of unwrapping it immediately.

Thankfully there are organisations that are there to help and many people willing to donate gifts or food.

The Auckland City Mission is expecting more than 3000 families to need a food parcel in the lead-up to Christmas, and they were also aiming to send 6000 children home with presents this year.

There are regional charities around the country who are doing the same thing and many people who are only too happy to donate.

Every year I am blown away by the goodwill and generosity of people in the lead-up to Christmas.

This year I was saddened to learn organisations like the Auckland City Mission have resorted to unwrapping donated gifts to make sure children don't end up with half-eaten food, dirty clothes, or worse. Volunteers now spend hours unwrapping presents, sorting them and rewrapping them.

It's a shame that's something that now has to be done. That people will go out of their way to give inappropriate gifts is mind-boggling.

I'm glad that despite that people continue to do their bit to help - I hope that will always be the case.