(file photo)

We're not quite out of November but one look at local stores will tell you it's almost Christmas time.

And with the tough times in Alberta right now it could be a difficult year for some families.

Lieutenant Kelly Fifield with the Salvation Army says they're going to do a Toy Drive on Monday Dec. 7 at the Bob Snodgrass Recreation Complex from 1 to 7 p-m.

"We're going to have some Christmas trees set up and a nice area where people can come down, they can drop off the toys, they can get a picture of the trees and them giving their donations and we just strongly encourage people to come down, donate early," Lieutenant Fifield says.

She says they handed out over 450 toy hampers last year and expects the need will be just as great of not greater this year so if they can get the donations in sooner they'll be able to get everything sorted in time to hand out the week before Christmas.

"we're always looking for a wide variety because we do toy hampers for kids from high school all the way down to newborns so we need a wide range of things," she says. "Things people don't often think about are things like pyjamas, or socks for kids and not just younger kids but older kids as well so we need into those adult sizes."

She also suggests things like headphones for teens, arts and crafts or science kits and of course Lego, Playdough or dollars are always winners.

If you can't make it to the Toy Drive \event there will be toy collection boxes in stores around the foothills.