🎁 The Gift of the Magi
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bargaining with the grocer and the butcher. Della counted it three times. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
There was nothing to do but cry. So Della cried. She lived in a small, cheap apartment with her husband, Jim. They had very little money. But they had two things that they were proud of. One was Jim's gold watch. It had belonged to his father and his grandfather. The other was Della's beautiful long hair. It fell down her back like a river of brown water.
Della stopped crying and looked at herself in the mirror. She took down her hair and let it fall. It was long and beautiful. Then she had an idea. She put on her old coat and went out into the street.
She went to a shop that bought and sold hair. The woman in the shop looked at Della's hair. "Twenty dollars," she said. Della agreed. She took the twenty dollars and went to find a gift for Jim.
She searched the shops for hours. Finally, she found a simple gold chain for Jim's watch. It was perfect. It would look beautiful with his watch. The chain cost twenty-one dollars. She paid and went home with only eighty-seven cents left.
At home, she fixed her short hair. She tried to look nice for Jim. She waited for him to come home. She was nervous. Would he still love her with short hair?
At seven o'clock, Jim came home. He stopped at the door. He looked at Della. He did not look angry. He did not look happy. He just stared at her.
"Jim," she cried, "don't look at me like that! I cut my hair and sold it. I wanted to buy you a Christmas present. My hair will grow back. Say 'Merry Christmas,' Jim. Let's be happy!"
Jim smiled. "You cut your hair?" he asked. "Don't worry. Nothing could make me love you less."
He gave her a package. "Open it," he said. Della opened it. Inside were beautiful combs for her hair. They were expensive combs that she had wanted for a long time. Now she had no long hair to use them with.
She smiled through her tears. "My hair grows so fast, Jim!" she said. Then she gave him her gift. "I searched everywhere for it," she said. "Happy Christmas, Jim!"
Jim looked at the beautiful gold chain. He sat down and laughed. "Della," he said, "let's put our presents away for a while. I sold my watch to buy you the combs."
They stood in silence for a moment. Then Della laughed. They both had sold their most precious possessions to buy gifts for each other. Their gifts were now useless. But their love was stronger than ever.
The Magi were wise men who brought gifts to the baby Jesus. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. But of all who give gifts, these two were the wisest. They had given each other the greatest gift of all: their love.
Moral of the story: The greatest gift is love and sacrifice. Material things are not as important as the people we love.