In pictures: Christmas in a box

1 of 14 Pata Rat is home to a small gypsy community in Transylvania, Romania. (Photos: Phil Coomes)

2 of 14 Sandwiched between factories, railway lines and a garbage dump...

3 of 14 ...families scrape a living by scavenging for anything that can be sold at a local market.

4 of 14 Once a year the children of Pata Rat see Christmas arrive on the back of a lorry in the form of shoe boxes, stuffed full of goodies from people in the UK.

5 of 14 From all over the UK, more than one million boxes are collected and distributed around the world.

6 of 14 A local charity, Ecce Homo (Behold the Man), and those from Samaritans Purse in the UK who organise Operation Christmas Child, arrive to the delight of the children...

7 of 14 ...who are soon arranged in orderly queues at the back of the lorry.

8 of 14 Some are over-excited, while others struggle to ward off the cold biting wind...

9 of 14 ...but nothing can disguise the joy these present bring.

10 of 14 Children hug huge cuddly toys...

11 of 14 ...carefully guard their boxes of treasure...

12 of 14 ...or just enjoy a lollypop.

13 of 14 Throughout the year Ecce Homo helps the community in many ways, in recent months with the construction of a number of new dwellings to help them through the winter.

14 of 14 But this is a day for the children, who stand and wave goodbye.