Christmas is all about children, starting with the reason for the season —the birth of Jesus, God made man. There’s nothing like seeing and hearing Christmas through the eyes and ears of a child — the glow of the lights, the story of Christ’s birth heard for the first time, the music and the presents. Their excitement is palpable and infectious.

This Christmas will be different for many children, however. Someone missing at the table; fewer gifts, if any, due to coronavirus job loss; parents distracted by work at home; not enough food on the table. More than 14 million children live in poverty in our country. That’s 18 percent of all children in the U.S. Kids who live in poverty don’t have enough to eat or the right clothes to wear. They fall behind in school and they have more behavioral and social challenges than other children. They are less healthy than higher-income children.

So many of us feel good when we pick a name from the Giving Tree at church or a local store and leave a present for “male child, age 9,” and that’s great. But let’s remember that when the Christmas season ends, the needs of children in poverty remain.