When kids see a new toy, they usually can’t wait to get ahold of it for themselves.

But 6-year-old Sophia DuSablon’s eyes lit up for a different reason Wednesday night, even though she was surrounded by boxes of new toys.

“This one is going to a little boy named Daniel,” she said. “He’s just 1 (year old).”

With great care, Sophia wrapped the Little People truck in brightly colored Christmas tree-themed wrapping paper, making sure to cut the paper just the right length and secure it with plenty of tape.

“There. It’s perfect, and I did it all by myself,” she said.

Excitedly, she reached for the next gift to wrap — a makeup set for a young girl.

Sophia and her family, including her sisters, Bianca, 4, and Caroline, 2, and 2-month-old brother, A.J., joined other volunteers Wednesday at the Shops at Seymour to begin preparing for this year’s Sertoma Christmas Miracle.

“They get so excited. This is their favorite part of Christmas,” said their father, Mat DuSablon of Seymour. “Sophia has been asking me ever since Thanksgiving when we were coming to wrap presents.”

For more than 40 years, Sertoma Club of Jackson County’s Christmas Miracle project has provided toys to children of low-income families at Christmastime.

Sertoma member John Fox, chairman of the project, said the club currently has received applications for 489 children in 201 households in Jackson County.

The number is less than last year, Fox said. He attributes that to a better employment rate in the county.

“We think more people are working and doing better,” he said. “And that’s a good thing.”

But he expects to receive more applications before Saturday’s deadline. Fox has been involved with Christmas Miracle for around 20 years, he said.

Donations of money or new toys can be made through Dec. 24 or even later. Whatever isn’t used this year will be kept and used next year.

Read the full story in Friday’s Tribune and online at tribtown.com.