The Hits: Looks of joy are priceless at Christmas

Playing Santa for sick kids is worth it, say Matthew and Sarah from The Hits.

We get to give away some pretty awesome prizes in our job. We recently gave a wedding to a lovely couple with the help of some very generous local businesses.

And we are currently giving one lucky person the trip of a lifetime if they can correctly identify the songs and artists in the music mix; the prize is a trip to see six artists in six different cities.

Very soon, 10 teams of two from Hawke's Bay will compete to win a cool holiday that comes with $500 spending money in Survivor: Tropical Island Edition (you can find out more details about all these competitions at thehits.co.nz).

The most rewarding thing we have given away recently, though, was a bunch of toys. Compared with the rest of the prizes we are fortunate enough to gift to people, that might not seem very impressive but these toys were for kids who are in Hawke's Bay Hospital.

As part of the Countdown Kids Hospital Appeal, we were given a large sum of money and charged with buying lots of toys for kids of all ages. Yep, our job is pretty tough at times!

We then carted these toys to the hospital and yesterday, we played Santa in the kids' ward. From one week to 12 years of age, every child in the ward received a toy and the looks on their faces were priceless. Some of them were too young to realise what was going on but their parents' faces said it all.

You can contribute to the appeal at any Countdown store and know that the money you are giving will be gratefully received by the staff at the hospital and well used by the kids.

Meanwhile, Sarah should really learn to keep her mouth shut.

What started as a silly little idea has now grown into a fully-fledged challenge; in just over a week's time, Sarah (who is beat deaf and quite likely tone deaf) will sing in Martin's very own Dad Band.

While the performance will be private, it will be recorded and videoed for playback on the radio and website. Gulp.

Best you get yourself some lemon tea and singing lessons, Sarah - you're going to need all the help you can get!