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Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast.

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Speaker 2: It's the podcast for the time poor parent who just

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Speaker 2: once answers.

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Speaker 1: Now Usually on a Wednesday, I have a chat with

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Speaker 1: somebody ahead of you them I talk about stuff that

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Speaker 1: matters a lot to them. Last week was Julian mcgrant,

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Speaker 1: the e Safety Commissioner. Before that, Dan Prince, Paie Schnell Contos.

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Speaker 1: Before that, Madonna King and Rebecca Sparrow. We talked to

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Speaker 1: some great people on this podcast about some really really

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Speaker 1: important stuff. However, we're now less than two weeks away

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Speaker 1: from Christmas. Everyone's slowing things down, and I wanted to

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Speaker 1: be a little bit indulgent today and share with you

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Speaker 1: what I think is one of the best Christmas stories

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Speaker 1: that you'll ever hear. Now, for those who have a

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Speaker 1: faith background, the idea of anything being better than the

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Speaker 1: Nativity as a Christmas story might sound a little bit,

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Speaker 1: I don't know, a little bit sacrilegious. That's certainly not

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Speaker 1: my intention. I have a faith background as well, but

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Speaker 1: when it comes to non faith related Christmas stories, I

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Speaker 1: can't think of a better one. The o Henry's the

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Speaker 1: Gift of the Magie. So Kylie is with me, and

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Speaker 1: Kylie is going to sit quietly, impatiently while I read

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Speaker 1: what I think is the best Christmas story ever written.

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Speaker 1: And then at the end of that, we're going to

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Speaker 1: discuss it briefly, because we reckon that it'd be great

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Speaker 1: for you to talk about with your family. You might

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Speaker 1: even want to play the podcast to them and then

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Speaker 1: have a conversation about what the story might mean to

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Speaker 1: you and to your kids.

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Speaker 2: Just before you get started, I do need to put

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Speaker 2: a very clear caveat and warning in here.

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Speaker 1: A warning. I thought this was quite a safe story.

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Speaker 2: We got an email a couple of weeks ago from

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Speaker 2: a listener who heard my talk that I delivered to

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Speaker 2: Fathers of Girls, and one of the things she said,

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Speaker 2: I think you need a bigger warning at the beginning

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Speaker 2: of episodes not to listen while operating a car, as

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Speaker 2: it seemed quite dangerous that I was driving as my

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Speaker 2: tears were flooding my face.

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Speaker 1: This is one of those stories.

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Speaker 2: This is one of those stories. So if you need

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Speaker 2: to pull over, do it now.

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Speaker 1: Without further ado. The gift of the Magi bio Henry

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Speaker 1: one dollar and eighty seven cents. That was all, and

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Speaker 1: sixty cents of it was in pennies pennies saved one

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Speaker 1: and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer, and

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Speaker 1: the vegetable man and the butcher, until one's cheeks burnt.

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Speaker 1: With the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing

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Speaker 1: implied three times. Della counted it one dollar and eighty

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Speaker 1: seven cents, and the next day would be Christmas. There

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Speaker 1: was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the

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Speaker 1: shabby little couch, and how so Della did it, which

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Speaker 1: instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles,

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Speaker 1: and smiles, with sniffles predominating, while the mistress of the

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Speaker 1: home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second.

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Speaker 1: Take a look at the home, a furnished flat at

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Speaker 1: eight dollars per week. It did not exactly beggar description,

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Speaker 1: but it certainly had that word on the lookout for

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Speaker 1: the mendicancy squad. In the vestibule below was a letter

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Speaker 1: box into which no letter would go, and an electric

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Speaker 1: button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring.

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Speaker 1: Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name mister

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Speaker 1: James Dillingham Young. The Dillingham had been flung to the breeze.

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Speaker 1: During a former period of prosperity, when its possessor was

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Speaker 1: being paid thirty dollars per week, Now when the income

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Speaker 1: was shrunk to twenty dollars, the letters of Dillingham looked blurred,

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Speaker 1: as though they were thinking seriously of contracting to a

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Speaker 1: modest and unassuming d But whenever mister James Dillingham Young

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Speaker 1: came home and reached his flat above, he was called

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Speaker 1: Jim and greatly hugged by missus. James Dillingham Young already

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Speaker 1: introduced to you as Della, which is all very good.

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Speaker 1: Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with

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Speaker 1: the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked

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Speaker 1: out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence

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Speaker 1: in a gray backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and

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Speaker 1: she had only one dollar and eighty seven cents with

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Speaker 1: which to buy Jim a present. She'd been saving every

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Speaker 1: penny she could for months, with this result, twenty dollars

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Speaker 1: a week doesn't go far. Expenses had been greater than

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Speaker 1: she had calculated. They always are. Only one dollar eighty

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Speaker 1: seven to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim many

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Speaker 1: a happy hour. She had spent planning for something nice

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Speaker 1: for him, something fine and rare and sterling, something just

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Speaker 1: a little bit near to being worthy of the honor

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Speaker 1: of being owned by Jim. There was a peer glass

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Speaker 1: between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen

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Speaker 1: a peer glass in an eight dollar flat. A very

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Speaker 1: thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection

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Speaker 1: in a rapid seatquence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly

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Speaker 1: accurate conception of his looks. Della, being slender, had mastered

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Speaker 1: the art. Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood

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Speaker 1: before the glass. Her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her

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Speaker 1: face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Rapidly she

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Speaker 1: pulled down her hair and let it fall to its

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Speaker 1: full length. Now there were two possessions of the James

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Speaker 1: Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride.

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Speaker 1: One was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's

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Speaker 1: and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair. Had the

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Speaker 1: Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft,

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Speaker 1: Della would have let her hair hang out the window

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Speaker 1: some day to dry, just to depreciate her Majesty's jewels

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Speaker 1: and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor with all

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Speaker 1: his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have

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Speaker 1: pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to

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Speaker 1: see him pluck at his beard from envy. So now

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Speaker 1: Della's beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like

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Speaker 1: a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee

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Speaker 1: and made itself almost a garment for her. And then

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Speaker 1: she did it up again, nervously and quickly. Once she

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Speaker 1: faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear

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Speaker 1: or two splashed on the worn red carpet. On went

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Speaker 1: her old brown jacket, On went her old brown hat.

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Speaker 1: With a whirl of skirts, and with the brilliant sparkle

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Speaker 1: still in her eyes, she fluttered out the door and

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Speaker 1: down the stairs to the street, where she stopped. The

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Speaker 1: sign read Madame Sophroni hair goods of all kinds one

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Speaker 1: flight up. Della ran and collected herself, panting, Madam large

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Speaker 1: two white chili. Hardly looked the SOPHRONI. Will you buy

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Speaker 1: my hair? Asked Della. I buy hair, said Madam. Take

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Speaker 1: your hat off, and let's have a sight at the

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Speaker 1: looks of it. Down, rippled the brown cascade. Twenty dollars,

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Speaker 1: said madam, lifting the mass with a practiced hand. Give

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Speaker 1: it to me, quick, said Della Oh. And the next

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Speaker 1: two hours tripped on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor.

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Speaker 1: She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present. She found

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Speaker 1: it at last. It surely had been made for Jim

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Speaker 1: and no one else. There was no other like it

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Speaker 1: in any of the stores, and she had turned all

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Speaker 1: of them inside out. It was a platinum fob chain,

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Speaker 1: simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by

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Speaker 1: substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation, as all good

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Speaker 1: things should do. It was even worthy of the watch.

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Speaker 1: As soon as she saw it, she knew that it

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Speaker 1: must be Jim's. It was like him, quietness and value.

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Speaker 1: The description applied to both twenty one dollars they took

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Speaker 1: from her for it, and she hurried home with the

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Speaker 1: eighty seven cents. With that chain on his watch, Jim

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Speaker 1: might be properly anxious about the time in any company.

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Speaker 1: Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it

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Speaker 1: on the sly on account of the old leather strap

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Speaker 1: that he used in place of a chain. When Della

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Speaker 1: reached home, her intoxication gave way a little to prudence,

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Speaker 1: and she got out her curling irons and lighted the

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Speaker 1: gas and went to work on repairing the ravages made

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Speaker 1: by generosity added to love, which is always a tremendous task,

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Speaker 1: dear friends, a mammoth task. Within forty minutes, her head

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Speaker 1: was covered with tiny, close lying curls that made her

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Speaker 1: look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her

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Speaker 1: reflection in the mirror long, carefully and critically. If Jim

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Speaker 1: doesn't kill me, she said to herself, before he takes

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Speaker 1: a second look at me, he'll say, I look like

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Speaker 1: a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do? Oh?

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Speaker 1: What could I do with a dollar and eighty seven cents.

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Speaker 1: At seven o'clock, the coffee was made and the frying

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Speaker 1: pan was on the back of the stove, hot and

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Speaker 1: ready to cook the chops. Jim was never late. Della

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Speaker 1: doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on

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Speaker 1: the corner of the table near the door that he

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Speaker 1: always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair

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Speaker 1: away down on the first flight, and she turned white.

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Speaker 1: For just a moment. She had a habit for saying little,

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Speaker 1: silent prayers about the simplest everyday things. And now she whispered,

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Speaker 1: Please God, make him think I'm still pretty. The door

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Speaker 1: opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked

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Speaker 1: thin and very serious. Poor fellow. He was only twenty

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Speaker 1: two and to be burdened with a family. He needed

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Speaker 1: a new overcoat, and he was without gloves. Jim stopped

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Speaker 1: inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the

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Speaker 1: scent of a quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della,

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Speaker 1: and there was an expression in them that she could

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Speaker 1: not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger,

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Speaker 1: nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the

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Speaker 1: sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared

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Speaker 1: at her fixedly, with that peculiar expression on his face.

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Speaker 1: Della wriggled off the table and went for him, Jim Darling,

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Speaker 1: She cried, don't look at me that way. I had

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Speaker 1: my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn't

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Speaker 1: have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It'll

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Speaker 1: grow out again. You won't mind, will you. I just

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Speaker 1: had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say

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Speaker 1: Merry Christmas, Jim, and let's be happy. I don't know

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Speaker 1: what a nice what a beautiful, nice gift I've got

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Speaker 1: for you. You've cut off your hair, asked Jim laboriously, as

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Speaker 1: if he had not arrived at that patent fact. Yet,

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Speaker 1: even after the hardest mental labor, cut it off and

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Speaker 1: sold it, said Della, don't you like me just as well? Anyhow?

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Speaker 1: I'm me without my hair, ain't I? Jim looked about

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Speaker 1: the room curiously. You say your hair is gone, he said,

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Speaker 1: with an air almost of idiocy. You needn't look for it,

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Speaker 1: said Della. It's sold, I tell you, sold and gone too.

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Speaker 1: It's Christmas, Eve boy, be good to me, for it

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Speaker 1: weren't for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered,

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Speaker 1: she went on with sudden serious sweetness. But nobody could

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Speaker 1: ever count my love for you. Shall I put the

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Speaker 1: jobs on Jim? Out of his trance, Jim seemed quickly

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Speaker 1: to wake. He unfolded his Della for ten seconds. Let

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Speaker 1: us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the

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Speaker 1: other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year?

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Speaker 1: What's the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give

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Speaker 1: you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but

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Speaker 1: that was not among them. This dark assertion will be

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Speaker 1: illuminated later on. Jim drew a package from his overcoat

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Speaker 1: pocket and threw it upon the table. Don't make any mistake, Dell,

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Speaker 1: he said about me. I don't think there's anything in

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Speaker 1: the way of a haircut, or a shave, or a

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Speaker 1: shampoo that could make me like my girl any less.

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Speaker 1: But if you'll unwrap that package, you may see why

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Speaker 1: you had me going a while. At first white fingers,

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Speaker 1: a nimble tore at the string and paper, and then

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Speaker 1: an ecstatic scream of joy, and then alas a quick

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Speaker 1: feminine change to hysterical tears and whales, necessitating the immediate

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Speaker 1: employment of all the comforting powers of the Lord of

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Speaker 1: the flat. For there lay the combs, the set of

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Speaker 1: combs side and back that Della had worshiped long in

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Speaker 1: a Broadway window, beautiful carmes, pure tortoise shell, with jeweled rims,

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Speaker 1: just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair.

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Speaker 1: They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had

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Speaker 1: simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope

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Speaker 1: of possession, and now they were hers. But the tresses

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Speaker 1: that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone, But

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Speaker 1: she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she

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Speaker 1: was able to look up with dim eyes and smile

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Speaker 1: and say, my hair grows so fast. Jim, and then

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Speaker 1: Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, oh, oh.

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Speaker 1: Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held

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Speaker 1: it out to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull,

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Speaker 1: precious metals seemed to flash with the reflection of her

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Speaker 1: bright and ardent spirit. Isn't it Dandie Jim? I hunted

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Speaker 1: all over town to find it. You'll have to look

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Speaker 1: at the time one hundred times a day. Now, give

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Speaker 1: me a watch. I want to see how it looks

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Speaker 1: on it. Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the

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Speaker 1: couch and put his hands under the back of his

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Speaker 1: head and smiled. Dell said he let's put our Christmas

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Speaker 1: presents away and keep them awhile they're too nice to use.

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Speaker 1: Just at present. I sold the watch to get the

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Speaker 1: money to buy your combs. Now suppose you put the

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Speaker 1: chops on the Magie, as you know, were wise men,

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Speaker 1: wonderfully wise men who brought gifts to the Babe in

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Speaker 1: the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents.

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Speaker 1: Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly

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Speaker 1: bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And

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Speaker 1: here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle

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Speaker 1: of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely

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Speaker 1: sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house.

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Speaker 1: But in a last word to the wise of these days,

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Speaker 1: let it be said that of all who give gifts,

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Speaker 1: these two were the wisest of all who give and

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Speaker 1: receive gifts. Such as they are wisest everywhere they are wisest.

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Speaker 1: They are magi. And that's the gift of the magi.

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Speaker 1: By O Henry. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need

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Speaker 1: to go blow my nose and wipe my eyes.

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Speaker 2: Well, I do too.

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Speaker 3: What I love about this story is that they each

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Speaker 3: knew each other so well they knew exactly what the

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Speaker 3: other would need, and it was in need. And yet

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Speaker 3: because of the love that they shared for each other,

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Speaker 3: they were willing to sacrifice the thing that mattered most

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Speaker 3: to them, because at the end of the day, it's

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Speaker 3: actually not about things, it's about the person that you

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Speaker 3: spend you choose to spend your life with. And so

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Speaker 3: the magic in this story is the recognition that at

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Speaker 3: Christmas time, every day should be an opportunity to celebrate

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Speaker 3: the ones we love. But we have this beautiful opportunity

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Speaker 3: on Christmas Day to acknowledge those people that enrich and

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Speaker 3: brighten our lives.

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Speaker 1: Whatever it takes, find a way to make a difference

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Speaker 1: in the lives of those you love. We've only got

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Speaker 1: a couple of days of the podcast to go until

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Speaker 1: we wrap things up, but as we move towards Christmas,

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Speaker 1: we just hope that you have such a wonderful festive season.

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Speaker 1: The Happy Families podcast is produced by Justin Rulon from

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Speaker 1: Bridge Media. If you like more info about making your

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Speaker 1: family happy, you can get it all a Happy Families

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Speaker 1: dot com dot a you