It’s hard to believe that Christmas is just over a week away.

I still have so much shopping to do. The tree is upstairs in the attic — waiting for me to drag it downstairs, put it together and decorate it. Christmas decorations and garlands are likewise in their boxes, waiting for me to pull them out of the attic where they’ve been safely stored for the past year and put them up to make the house festive and merry.

The lights around town are cheery and homes are decorated for the season and never fail to make me smile when I drive past. But my brain wants to believe it is still summer, that snow isn’t falling, and that there isn’t still too much to do before the Jolly Old Elf makes his appearance in my house.

One sign of Christmas that is up and brightening the fast-approaching holiday? The Sandpoint Lions Club’s annual Toys for Tots drive. Every day, there’s a new email from the wonderful folks at the Lions Club listing the most recent donors to their annual Christmas drive. It’s almost as if I’m getting a special Christmas present every morning.

If you have donated, you are amazing and wonderful, and your generosity will help children in our community have a merry Christmas.

If you haven’t donated, please consider doing so. Whether it is a dollar or a $100 — each and every donation is important and all adds up.

Today’s donations add up to $1,446.50, bringing the total to $24,116.47.

Generous contributions were received from: Trinity coin jar, $10; Mr. Sub coin jar, $42; Tervan coin jar, $74.50; 219 Club coin jar, $105; anonymous, $30; Delbert Bader, $100; Ronald and Reba Hawthorne, $25; Darrell and Ellena Brown, $10; Randy and Kim Powers, (in loving memory of our daughter, Kara Powers, and father, Dean Eich), $100; Robert and Marian Rust, $150; Duane and Marilyn Ward (in memory of longtime Lions member Dell Brown),” $100; anonymous, $150; Ronald and Rose Chaney, $300; the Venn Family (in memory of Dona Mae Venn), $50; and Mr. T, $200.

The goal for this year’s campaign is $50,000 — the same as it has been in past years. The Lions make the most of the money by shopping bargains, and with the assistance of generous local businesses.

The Toys for Tots program provides free new toys for children living in the Lake Pend Oreille School District, from Sandpoint to Clark Fork and all points in-between. A Christmas dinner for the family is also provided.

Those who need help this year can apply at the Lions Den, 607 S. Ella Ave., Sandpoint (west of Memorial Field next to the Bonner County History Museum.)

The Lions Den will be open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through Monday, Dec. 18, so members can accept applications. Applications also are available at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare office.

If you have any questions about Toys for Tots sign-up, call Judy Dabrowski, 208-290-5314.

Donations can be dropped off at the front desk at the Bonner County Daily Bee, 310 Church St., from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Toys for Tots donations also can be mailed to the Sandpoint Lions Club, P.O. Box 414, Sandpoint, ID, 83864

You can also drop off donations at Columbia Bank’s main branch in Sandpoint, 414 Church St., or at the Ponderay branch, 300 Kootenai Cutoff Road.

Donations made by check are preferred. Be sure to include a note with your check indicating that it is a Toys for Tots donation. If you wish to make an anonymous donation, please include a note and indicate that.

If the donation is being made in someone’s name, be sure to also include a note.

Caroline Lobsinger can be reached by email at clobsinger@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @CarolDailyBee.