O. Henry positions the reader to conclude that giving is preferable to receiving by using vivid descriptions of both the motivations and the emotive responses of the main characters.
In the exposition of the narrative, the reader is asked to notice the worn state of the Dillingham flat, and also to be aware that whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young arrives home, he is greeted with warm hugs by Mrs. Young, or Della, as she is called in the story. So, it becomes apparent that the young couple are very much in love and quite content with one another. Further, Della cries only because she does not have enough money with which to purchase Jim a nice Christmas gift. But, after she sells her luxurious hair, she is elated because she now has the money needed to buy her husband the gift of a handsome watch chain that she is certain he will love.
That Della is excited about giving Jim his gift is evinced in her "intoxication" of emotion as she reaches home. Quickly she uses a curling iron on her shorter hair in order to repair "the ravages made by generosity." Still, she is worried that Jim will be angry that she has had her hair cut. When Jim does arrive, the young husband is dumbfounded, and he stares at his wife, who says,
"Jim, darling,...don't look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a present....
Jim tenderly takes Della in his arms and tells his dear wife that a haircut cannot "make me like my girl any less." However, he says, if she will unwrap the package he has brought home, she will understand why he has been so surprised upon seeing her short hair. Stella does so, and there in the package are two beautiful combs:
...the set of combs that Della had worshiped for long in a Broadway window.
Upon seeing the combs that she has desired, Della does not bemoan the fact that she cannot use her gift. Instead, she consoles her beloved spouse, "My hair grows so fast, Jim!" And, then, she leaps up, having remembered her present for Jim; this she hands eagerly to her husband, who opens it and discovers a handsome watch fob. However, rather than putting it on his watch, he tumbles onto the couch. Lying there with his hands under his head, Jim urges Della,
"Let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em awhile. I sold the watch to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on."
Because neither Jim nor Della have complained of their losses, but instead are more concerned for the other's happiness, the Dillinghams evince their real love for each other, as well as their understanding of the merits and delights of giving.
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