What would your "Gift of the Magi" be?

With Christmas approaching, I thought I would pose that question.

We know from the Bible [Matthew 2:11] that the gifts of the magi for the Christ child were frankincense, gold and myrrh -- valuable commodities in that time and place.

In a short story titled "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry (the pen name of William Sydney Porter) the characters James Dillingham Young (Jim) and his wife Della are poor. For Christmas, they both sacrifice their most valued possession in order to buy the other a beautiful gift. Jim sells his family heirloom gold pocket watch to buy Della pure tortoise shell combs with jewelled rims for her long, luxuriant beautiful hair. Della has her hair cut and sells it to buy Jim a platinum fob chain for his pocket watch.

So my question to you is, what do you cherish or prize the most that you would be willing to sacrifice for the one you love? What valuable thing would you be willing to sell? Be serious and keep it clean. Don't say you would sell your "sexual favors" because I'm talking about something, you know, that's actually of some value.

However, "value," much like "beauty" is in the eye of the beholder. Remember the Christmas song The Little Drummer Boy? He is poor and has nothing to give to the baby Jesus, so he plays his drum for Him. If you have a similar situation, something similar to the drum playing does count as your "gift of the magi" for the purposes of my question.

I suppose it wouldn't be fair to ask the question of others and not answer it myself. If I had to sacrifice something, it would probably be one or more of my books. (Before you scoff, you should know that I have some very rare and expensive books, some old and irreplaceable books, and even some sentimental books with which I would not part lightly.) Or perhaps my piano (not really a treasure to anyone else, but it is to me).

Now go think about this. Play this "game" with friends. Exercise some introspection.

You've been told and NOW YOU KNOW.