The first time I read 'The Gift of the Magi' by O.Henry,I fell in love with it..I've read it zillions of times thereafter,but the charm still holds on..amongst all the stories celebrating the spirit of Christmas,I find it the best,the ultimate..wonderfully scripted,it is a tale of giving and receiving.of love and sacrifice,of naivete and wisdom,of wealth and riches..timeless in its appeal,it has wowed readers all over the world..in case anyone wants to read it (i strongly recommend it,from the bottom of my heart)they can do so by clicking on the following link: http://www.online-literature.com/o_henry/1014/

a short note on Magi or the Three Wise Men as they are widely called:

The Magi were the sacred caste of the Medes who provided as priests of Persia & had a dominating religious influence.The Gospel narrative omits to mention the number of the Magi & there is no certain tradition in this matter.Three Magi are heard of & their number in all probability is influenced by the number of gifts.Their names are Gaspar, Melchoir and Balthasar.It appears that they came from the East at the time of Christ's birth.Though what is meant by 'the East' is not specifically given,but it could refer to Babylonia or Persia.The visit of the Magi took place after the presentation of the child in the temple [Book of Luke,Bible].When Christ was born,there was throughout the Roman empire, general unrest and expectation of a golden age and a great deliverer. The Magi were probably led by these influences to look forward to a messiah who would come soon. But there must have been some special revelation by which they knew that the Star meant the birth of God and would lead them to the place of His birth.The Magi adored the child and offered him gold, frankinsence and myrhh.The giving of gifts was in keeping with the oriental customs. The purpose of gold is clear-material worth,but the purpose of the other gifts is not known. The Magi probably meant no symbolism,but critics have tried to find symbolic meaning in these three gifts. Frankinsence was supposes to forecast spiritualism,while myrhh represented martyrdom. The Cologne Cathedral contains what are claimed to be the Gifts of the Magi.These,it is said, were discovered in Persia and brought to Constantinople by St.Helena & tranferred to Cologne in 1163A.D.