O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" strikes me as a Christmas story for all faiths, be they religious or secular.
As you likely recall, it's a story about a husband and wife who are so poor that they barely have food to eat. But the wife, Della, so loves her husband, James, that she is determined to somehow buy him a Christmas present. Having been able to save not quite two dollars, she knows she must do something desperate. Walking down the street, she sees a small sign that leads her to a woman who buys hair. And Della sells her beautiful hair to the woman for twenty dollars. Della uses those twenty dollars to buy a wonderful present for husband Jim. She buys him a beautiful gold chain to go with the only material object of value that Jim owns: a gold watch that had once belonged to his father, and before that, to his father’s father. But Jim so loves Della that he is determined to somehow buy her a Christmas present. Having no money after paying the rent, Jim sells his precious watch to buy some beautiful, jeweled combs for Della's beautiful hair -- combs that Della had seen in a shop window and loved for a long time but knew she could never buy. And so there they are -- Della without her beautiful hair and Jim without his prized watch -- two people even poorer than they were before. And each having acted foolishly, in any worldly sense. So why did O. Henry call this story, "The Gift of the Magi"? In the gospel according to St. Matthew, the Magi were rich and wise men from the East who had come to pay homage to a child they did not know. Though they do not seem so from any reasonable earthly perspective, Della and Jim are among the wisest and richest people on earth -- wise and rich because they gave of themselves wholeheartedly in love. Married, single, widowed, or divorced, young, old, or in between, red. yellow, black, or white, Christian, or other religious or secular faith -- so can every one of us. Peace and joy to each of you at this holy season, Bill