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Transcripts
Happy holidays.
Speaker:You're listening to gift biz unwrapped episode 142 Attention gifters bakers,
Speaker:crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.
Speaker:Now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is give to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode,
Speaker:packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow.
Speaker:Your gift biz here is your host gift biz gal Sue
Speaker:Mon height.
Speaker:On this Christmas day,
Speaker:I'd like to present a light-hearted entertaining episode of the gift
Speaker:biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:It's a holiday tale that crosses generations and religions.
Speaker:Sit back and enjoy this short story by O Henry entitled
Speaker:the gift of the magi.
Speaker:$1 and 87 cents.
Speaker:That was all.
Speaker:And 60 cents of it was in pennies.
Speaker:Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the
Speaker:grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until ones cheeks
Speaker:burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing
Speaker:implied three times,
Speaker:Della counted it $1 and 87 cents and the next day
Speaker:would be Christmas.
Speaker:There was clearly nothing to do,
Speaker:but flopped down on the shabby little couch and Howell.
Speaker:So Della did it,
Speaker:which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of
Speaker:sobs, sniffles and smiles with sniffles predominating.
Speaker:While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the
Speaker:first stage to the second,
Speaker:take a look at the home,
Speaker:a furnished flat at $8 per week.
Speaker:It did not exactly beggar description,
Speaker:but it certainly had that word on the outlook for the
Speaker:mendicancy squad in the vestibule below was a letter box into
Speaker:which no letter would go and an electric button from which
Speaker:no mortal finger could coax a ring.
Speaker:Also appertaining there onto was a card bearing the name Mr.
Speaker:James Dillingham young,
Speaker:the Dillingham had been flung to the breeze during a former
Speaker:period of prosperity when its processor was being paid $30 a
Speaker:week. Now,
Speaker:when the income was shrunk to $20,
Speaker:the letters of Dillingham looked blurred as though they were seriously
Speaker:thinking of contracting to a modest and unassuming D.
Speaker:But whenever Mr.
Speaker:James Dillingham young came home and reached his flat above,
Speaker:he was called Jim and greatly hugged by Mrs.
Speaker:James Dillingham,
Speaker:young already introduced to you as Della,
Speaker:which is all very good.
Speaker:Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the
Speaker:powder rag.
Speaker:She stood by the window,
Speaker:looked out Dolly and a gray cat walking on a gray
Speaker:fence in a gray back yard.
Speaker:Art tomorrow would be Christmas day and she had only a
Speaker:dollar and 87 cents with which to buy Jim a present.
Speaker:She had been saving every penny she could for months with
Speaker:this result,
Speaker:$20 a week,
Speaker:doesn't go very far.
Speaker:Expenses had been greater than she had calculated.
Speaker:They always are only a dollar and 87 cents to buy
Speaker:a present for gym,
Speaker:her gym,
Speaker:many, a happy hour.
Speaker:She had spent planning for something nice for him,
Speaker:something fine and rare and Sterling something just a little bit
Speaker:near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by
Speaker:Jim. There was a pure glass between the windows of the
Speaker:room. Perhaps you have seen a pure glass in an $8
Speaker:flat, a very thin and very agile person may by observing
Speaker:his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips obtain a
Speaker:fairly accurate conception of his Luxe.
Speaker:Dalla being slender had mastered the art,
Speaker:suddenly she world from the window and stood before the glass.
Speaker:Her eyes were shining brilliantly,
Speaker:but her face had lost its color.
Speaker:Within 20 seconds rapidly.
Speaker:She pulled down her hair and let it fall to its
Speaker:full length.
Speaker:Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in
Speaker:which they took a mighty pride.
Speaker:One was Jim's gold watch that had been his fathers and
Speaker:his grandfather.
Speaker:The other was Dallas hair had the queen of Sheba lived
Speaker:in the flat,
Speaker:across the air shaft.
Speaker:Della would have let her hair hang out the window someday
Speaker:to dry dust,
Speaker:to deprecate her majesties,
Speaker:Juul and gifts had King Salomon been the janitor with all
Speaker:his treasures piled up in the basement.
Speaker:Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed
Speaker:by just to see him pluck at his beard from envy.
Speaker:So now Dell,
Speaker:Della's beautiful here fell about her rippling and shining like a
Speaker:cascade of Brown waters.
Speaker:It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment
Speaker:for her.
Speaker:And then she did it up again,
Speaker:nervously and quickly.
Speaker:Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a
Speaker:tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet on went,
Speaker:her old Brown jacket on winter old Brown hat with a
Speaker:whirl of skirts and the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes.
Speaker:She fluttered out the door and down the stairs to the
Speaker:street where she stopped the sign.
Speaker:Read Madame
One flight up Della ran and collected herself.
Speaker:Teen Madame,
Speaker:large to white Chile hardly looked the
Will you buy my hair?
Speaker:Asked Della.
Speaker:Hi, bye hair said,
Speaker:Madame, take your head off.
Speaker:And let's have a sight at the looks of it down
Speaker:rippled. The Brown cascade $20 said Madame,
Speaker:lifting the mass with a practice hand.
Speaker:Give it to me quick set,
Speaker:Della. Oh,
Speaker:and the next two hours tripped by on Rosie wings.
Speaker:Forget the hashed metaphor.
Speaker:She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present.
Speaker:She found it at last.
Speaker:It surely had been made for Jim and no one else.
Speaker:There was no other like it in any of them stores.
Speaker:And she had turned all of them inside out.
Speaker:It was platinum fob chain simple and chased and design properly
Speaker:proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation
Speaker:as all good things should do.
Speaker:It was even worthy of the watch.
Speaker:As soon as she saw it,
Speaker:she knew that it must be gyms.
Speaker:It was like him quietness and value.
Speaker:The description applied to both $21.
Speaker:They took from her for it and she hurried home with
Speaker:the 87 cents.
Speaker:With that chain on his watch,
Speaker:Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company
Speaker:grand as the watch was,
Speaker:he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of
Speaker:the old leather strap that he used in place of a
Speaker:chain. When Della reached home,
Speaker:her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason.
Speaker:She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and
Speaker:went to work.
Speaker:Repairing the ravages made by generosity,
Speaker:added to love,
Speaker:which is always a tremendous task.
Speaker:Dear friends,
Speaker:a mammoth task within 40 minutes,
Speaker:her head was covered with tiny loose line curls that made
Speaker:her look wonderfully like a truant school.
Speaker:Boy, she looked at a reflection in the mirror long,
Speaker:carefully, and critically.
Speaker:Ooh. If Jim doesn't kill me,
Speaker:she said to herself for,
Speaker:he takes a second.
Speaker:Look at me.
Speaker:He'll say,
Speaker:I look like a Coney Island,
Speaker:chorus girl,
Speaker:but what could I do?
Speaker:Oh, what could I do with a dollar and 87 cents
Speaker:at seven o'clock the coffee was made and the frying pan
Speaker:was on the back of the stove,
Speaker:hot and ready to cook the chops.
Speaker:Jim was never late.
Speaker:Della doubled the fog chain in her hand and sat on
Speaker:the corner of the table,
Speaker:near the door that he always entered.
Speaker:Then she heard his step on the stair away,
Speaker:down on the first flight.
Speaker:And she turned white for just a moment.
Speaker:She had,
Speaker:I had a habit of sane,
Speaker:silent little prayers about the symbolist day things.
Speaker:And now she whispered,
Speaker:please, God,
Speaker:make him think I am still pretty.
Speaker:The door opened.
Speaker:And Jim stepped in and closed it.
Speaker:He looked thin and very serious poor fellow.
Speaker:He was only 22 and to be burdened with a family,
Speaker:he needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves.
Speaker:Jim stopped inside the door as immovable,
Speaker:as a setter at the scent of quail,
Speaker:his eyes were fixed upon Della and there was an expression
Speaker:in them that she could not.
Speaker:I read and it terrified her was not anger nor surprise,
Speaker:nor disapproval,
Speaker:nor horror,
Speaker:nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for.
Speaker:He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on
Speaker:his face,
Speaker:Della wriggled off the table and went for him.
Speaker:Jim Darlene,
Speaker:she cried.
Speaker:Don't look at me that way.
Speaker:I had my hair cut off and sold it because I
Speaker:couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a present.
Speaker:It'll grow out again.
Speaker:You won't mind will you?
Speaker:I just had to do it.
Speaker:My hair grows awfully fast.
Speaker:Say Merry Christmas,
Speaker:Jim. And let's be happy.
Speaker:You don't know what a beautiful,
Speaker:nice gift I got for you.
Speaker:You cut off your hair.
Speaker:Asked Jim laboriously as if he had not arrived at the
Speaker:patent fact yet.
Speaker:Even after the hardest mental labor,
Speaker:cut it off and sold.
Speaker:It said,
Speaker:Della, don't you like me?
Speaker:Just as well.
Speaker:Anyhow, I me,
Speaker:without my hair,
Speaker:ain't die.
Speaker:Jim looked around the room.
Speaker:Curiously, you say your hair is gone.
Speaker:He said,
Speaker:with an air of almost idiocy,
Speaker:you needn't look for it said,
Speaker:Della, it's sold.
Speaker:I tell you sold and gone to it's Christmas Eve.
Speaker:Boy, be good to me for it went for you.
Speaker:Maybe the hairs on my head are numbered.
Speaker:She went on with a sudden serious sweetness,
Speaker:but nobody could ever count my love for you.
Speaker:Shall I put on the chops?
Speaker:Jim, out of his trance,
Speaker:Jim seemed quickly to wake.
Speaker:He enfolded his Della for 10 seconds.
Speaker:Let us regard with discrete scrutiny,
Speaker:some inconsequential object in the other direction,
Speaker:$8 a week or a million dollars a year.
Speaker:What is the difference?
Speaker:A mathematician or a wit would give you wrong answer.
Speaker:The magi brought valuable gifts,
Speaker:but that was not among them.
Speaker:This dark assertion will be illuminated later on Jim drew a
Speaker:package out of his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the
Speaker:table. Don't make any mistake Del.
Speaker:He said about me.
Speaker:I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut
Speaker:or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like
Speaker:my girl any less.
Speaker:But if you'll unwrap that package,
Speaker:you may see why you had me going a little while
Speaker:at first white fingers and nimble tore at the string and
Speaker:paper and then an ecstatic scream of joy.
Speaker:And then all last,
Speaker:a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails necessitating the
Speaker:immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the Lord of
Speaker:the flat for their lay,
Speaker:the Combs,
Speaker:the set of Combs side-by-side that Della had worshipped for long
Speaker:in a Broadway window,
Speaker:beautiful Combs,
Speaker:pure tortoise shell with Juul rims,
Speaker:just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair.
Speaker:They were expensive Combs.
Speaker:She knew,
Speaker:and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without
Speaker:the least hope of possession.
Speaker:And now they were hers,
Speaker:but the tresses that should have adorned,
Speaker:the coveted ornaments were gone,
Speaker:but she hugged them to her bosom and at length,
Speaker:she was able to look up with demise and a smile
Speaker:and say,
Speaker:my hair grows so fast,
Speaker:Jim, and then Della leaped up like a little singed cat
Speaker:and cried.
Speaker:Oh, Oh,
Speaker:Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present.
Speaker:She held it out to him.
Speaker:Eagerly upon her open Palm.
Speaker:The DOL precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of
Speaker:her bright and ardent spirit.
Speaker:Isn't it a dandy,
Speaker:Jim? I hunted all over town to find it.
Speaker:You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a
Speaker:day. Now give me your watch.
Speaker:I want to see how it looks on it.
Speaker:Instead of obeying Jim tumbled down on the couch and put
Speaker:his hands under the back of his head and smiled Dell,
Speaker:he said,
Speaker:let's put our Christmas presents away and keep them awhile.
Speaker:They're too nice to use just at present.
Speaker:I sold the watch to get the money,
Speaker:to buy your Combs.
Speaker:And now suppose you put the chops,
Speaker:The magi,
Speaker:as you know,
Speaker:we're wise men wonderfully wise,
Speaker:men who brought gifts to the babe in the manger.
Speaker:They invented the art of giving Christmas presents being wise.
Speaker:Their gifts were no doubt.
Speaker:Wise ones possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of
Speaker:duplication. And here I have Lanely related to you,
Speaker:the uneventful Chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who
Speaker:most unwisely sacrificed for each other,
Speaker:the greatest treasures of their house,
Speaker:but in the last word to the wise of these days,
Speaker:let it be said that of all who give gifts.
Speaker:These two were the wisest of all who give and receive
Speaker:gifts such as they are wisest everywhere.
Speaker:They are wisest.
Speaker:They are the magi.
Speaker:I chose this story today for a couple of reasons.
Speaker:It transcends the materialism that is mostly equated to gifting.
Speaker:These days in a world of bigger is better and more
Speaker:expensive equals higher status.
Speaker:It's important to reground ourselves in what the spirit of giving
Speaker:is meant to be.
Speaker:It should have less to do with the actual gift and
Speaker:more to do with the intentions and the message behind the
Speaker:gesture. Of course,
Speaker:the idea is not lost on me,
Speaker:that you,
Speaker:as a listener to this show are most likely a gifter
Speaker:Baker, crafter or maker.
Speaker:Your heart goes into the creations of your products.
Speaker:And the goal is for people to purchase them.
Speaker:Meaning material,
Speaker:things as gifts,
Speaker:gifts for themselves or others.
Speaker:One could call that materialistic or one could consider the deeper
Speaker:reason for the gift to celebrate a life event,
Speaker:to share the sentiment of friendship or love to extend an
Speaker:apology or to offer support.
Speaker:There are a myriad of reasons for a gift when you've
Speaker:deepened a relationship and brought happiness,
Speaker:excitement, and celebration into someone's life.
Speaker:That is a true gift.
Speaker:I hope you enjoyed this variation of the show today and
Speaker:that you are experiencing warm and enriching moments with family and
Speaker:friends this holiday season next week on new year's day,
Speaker:I'll be expanding upon this concept of a deeper level of
Speaker:gifting and what it can mean for advancing your business.
Speaker:This coming year.
Speaker:I wish you warmth and happiness and all the wonderful things
Speaker:that the holiday can bring.
Speaker:And I look forward to us being together again next week,
Speaker:the very first day of the new year,
Speaker:This episode is all wrapped up,
Speaker:but your gift biz journey continues.
Speaker:It's your time to experience the pride and satisfaction of turning
Speaker:your passion into a profitable business.
Speaker:Join the gift biz builder program and access valuable lessons or
Speaker:worksheets and a live Q and a sessions.
Speaker:Addressing your specific challenges.
Speaker:You also have the opportunity to connect with a community of
Speaker:gift biz builders,
Speaker:just like you head over to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com/gift biz builder,
Speaker:and get started today.
