It is Christmas and Della is amongst the last minute crowd, trying to find the perfect gift for her husband, Jim.

The only problem is Della's budget, she has one dollar and eighty seven cents with which to express her love in gift .

 Della and Jim are poor, and don't have very much. But as poor as they are in money terms, they are rich in love for each other

Her hair is one of the couple's great treasures, but she decided to sell it for  twenty dollars,giving her enough to buy an elegant chair for Jim's watch.

At seven o'clock, Jim arrives home and was shoked.He stares fixedly at her hair, seemingly unable to process that her hair has gone.

After a few minutes, Jim pulls himself together and gives Della her gift. She is filled with joy but then bursts into tears.

He has given her a set of beautiful ornamental hair combs that she has been wanting for a long while, but now she has no hair for them.

She gives Jim his gift, and her husband smiles, but sinks back onto the couch, overcome. He sold his gold watch to get enough money to purchase the hair combs for Della.

Jim suggested her to put the presents away and to have a dinner .

Della and Jim are the wisest gift givers of all. This is why they are the Magi.

Story Analysis

The narrator shows that value is subjective when he compares Della’s hair and Jim’s watch to the treasures of King Solomon and the queen of Sheba—these items are clearly not equally valuable, but to Della and Jim, their prized possessions mean just as much as the mythical jewels the narrator alludes to. Della also demonstrates that her main concern with their poverty revolves around how it limits her ability to show her love for Jim. Also note that Della’s hair here represents her own external beauty and youth.

The Gift require sacrifice, and the gifts given bu the three rich kings did not , that makes Jim and Della the real magi .

CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Della is considered to be the major character since she is the one who appears from the beginning until the end of the story. It seems that the beginning of the story is telling about Della’s confussion to buy present for Jim, her husband until she finally did a sacrifice in order to be able to buy a nice present. Della is dynamic character in the story since her physical appearance changed in the end of the story. 

 Jim is a thin, serious young man of twenty-two who bears the burden of supporting his wife and himself on only $20 a week. He sacrifices the watch to buy combs for Della’s hair as his Christmas gift to her.

Madame Sofronie's attitude creates a sharp contrast to that of Della and Jim. For both of them, Della's hair is a prized possession – her only prized possession – and Della's sale of it amounts to an enormous sacrifice. 

Themes

"Love" - Jim and Della are willing to part with their most prized possessions to make each other happy, demonstrating that a wealth of love makes up for material poverty.

"Generozity"- While each loves their prized possessions, Della’ s hair and Jim’s watch , each are willing to sell their possessions in order to make the other happy .Although they are poor , they are both rich in their generosity for the other.

"Sacrifice"- Jim and Della sacrifice their greatest personal treasures out of devotion to the other. In sacrificing possessions, they end up possessing an even greater, irreplaceable treasure: affirmation of their love.

The moral is that selflessness and love are the greatest gifts of all!