Lots of different charities these days give the option of buying someone the gift of life for Christmas. A simple click away online are many opportunities for us to buy a goat for a family with no income, a well for a waterless village, an education for an eager child, a life-saving mosquito net for the exposed or even meals for a month for someone hungry. If we have learnt one thing this year, it is the huge difference waiting to be made in the world through small gestures. Any one of these things make the world of difference to a life somewhere out there beyond the snow piling up outside our windows. So, don’t just think, act. Buy a friend or family member something different this year, give someone else hope in honour of them. Here are a few of the many websites that allow this incredible giving: www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/oxfam-unwrapped ; http://shop.wateraid.org/ ; www.presentaid.org