On the island of Guam, the Operation Christmas Drop (OCD) is much more than a cute holiday romance streaming on Netflix.

Here, it’s a tradition that sends “love from above,” and dates back more than 70 years – it’s the longest-running humanitarian airlift operation. 

In 1952, the crew of a B-29 Superfortress saw islanders waving to them from the island of Kapingamarangi. The aircrew dropped the islanders a parachute bundled with supplies, and the OCD was born.

Today, partnered military bases and organizations airdrop boxes containing food, clothing, educational supplies, and toys to more than 50 remote tropical islands during the Holidays.

Anderson AFB, on Guam, acts as the base camp for OCD. Preparations start long before the Christmas decorations go up. 

Volunteers fundraise and collect donations for weeks before the drop. Then the donations are collected and sorted. More volunteers build boxes to hold all the collected goods, and then, donors and volunteers decorate the exteriors of the boxes with holiday cheer before they are loaded up for their various flights. 

This year, for our final Christmas on the island, we were invited by family friends to help decorate a box for OCD. 

The hangar will be full of families and volunteers, bedecking their giant boxes with a myriad of fun holiday scenes, like “snowmen” made of sand, handprints, and palm trees strung with lights. My 9-year-old loves art, and is very excited at the thought that kids on another island will see his paintings and Christmas wishes. 

It’s a Christmas tradition that will never be replicated at any other duty station we may go to in the future.

After our few short hours of contributing have passed, we can follow along with the rest of the island on the OCD Facebook page, and watch videos of boxes being delivered by excited aircrews (often wearing Santa hats). 

OCD reinforces the giving spirit that we try to embody each holiday season. Instilling a grateful heart in our kids can seem difficult in the current culture, when we’re constantly bombarded with the suggestion that we need “more, more, more!”

To upgrade, to replace, to get “an extra” for convenience, or to keep from falling behind or being left out. 

Being grateful for what we have, and for what we can give to help others, is becoming an increasingly important part of my family’s holiday. 

I’d wager that many of those reading this will not be in Guam this Christmas, or maybe ever!

So how can you, on the other side of the world, give to this cause, if you’re not on the island? Well, it’s actually pretty easy. 

The OCD accepts monetary donations online, and they also maintain an amazon wish list, if you’d rather send items.

They sell swag at their online store, including OCD shirts, patches, stickers, and challenge coins.

Guam isn’t the only duty station with a unique holiday tradition.

I’d love to hear about other traditions that you’ve experienced or adopted as you’ve traveled around the US and abroad! 

I hope you all have a blessed holiday season!

*For more information, visit Operation Christmas Drop. 

*To read more of Kaci’s work, check out her M:M Author page.