Sometimes, the classics are simply the best. Now to read Jane Yolen's version.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Short Story Time

I think that a story like this was adapted for Mickey Mouse? That's why it felt so familiar as I was reading it?

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I also have qualms with the fact that the lady did not have work and had to rely on her husband's money (and her hair) to get him a nice present...
Don't get me wrong though, it has a nice sentiment... !

Awwww:))))

A fun collection- though I will say I was surprised at the seemingly lower quality of his writing (it was all so predictable and soapy), I loved his sentimentality.

This little morsel is like a salted caramel hot cocoa. The story is so familiar that nearly everyone knows it, yet few people have actually read it; and it's so sweet, so funny, a little salty and unexpected. A good reminder about what love is about; the happiness of someone else.

The classic beats the adaptations anyday! (o:

Is there anyone who has not read this story?

Quick recap: Tomorrow is Christmas, but Della has only $1.87. She needs far more than that to buy her husband Jim a gift to show her great love and respect for him, but also what she feels he deserves. But they are a poor couple. What to do? Her one possession of value is her long waist-length beautiful hair. His one valuable possession is his grandfather's gold watch, which needs a fob chain. She shakes off the melancholy of the sacrifice of her hair after she conceives of selling it to a hair-goods shop, and she puts her plan into action with a happy bliss. With twenty more dollars to spend, she buys the platinum fob chain for Jim's watch. Excited, she waits for him.

He comes home late. When he sees her short curly hair, though, he seems to freeze up. Nervously, she calls out "Merry Christmas!" and gives him his present, and he soon lovingly gives her his. They open them. Their gifts to each other are certainly successful in surprising each of them, if not very successful overall!

Spoiler

He sold the watch to buy her expensive comb decorations for her hair.

Despite the bittersweet Christmas, they are more in love than ever. "They are the magi."


The story poignantly reveals the spirit of Christmas, but in my opinion gentle reader, the story is also a Rorschach test for each of us. O. Henry is a virtuoso of comic satire as well as an exquisite observer of human perversity and shortcomings. When I was in the eighth grade, I checked out [b:The Complete Works of O. Henry|31624|The Complete Works of O. Henry|O. Henry|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328586021s/31624.jpg|31854] six times, reading it twice. I suppose that might say something about me. I will confess to preferring Halloween over Christmas. Bite me.