As was the family tradition, everyone gathered around in the living room on Christmas Eve to open presents. They had enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner with all the trimmings and, as always, they had sung a few favorite Christmas carols. Then it was time to open the presents. Every year, they took turns, each opening one gift at a time.

As always, Dad handed out the gifts, one at a time. This year, it was Tita's turn to go first. She opened her first gift and found a cute little box. She opened it, but found nothing inside.

"This isn't funny," said Tita. "Who did this? Who gave me an empty box?"

All the children looked at each other. Who would play a mean trick like this on Tita?

Then it was Nalani's turn. Dad handed her a box that had the same colorful paper as the one Tita had opened. She carefully untied the pretty red ribbon, and she too found a cute little box. It was a little bigger than Tita's, and she smiled with great pleasure. Then she opened it. It was empty.

You could see the sadness in her eyes. She looked like she was going to cry.

Suddenly, it became very quiet in the usually happy home. Everyone looked at each other. Then Mom came to the rescue. "It's Christmas!" she said joyfully. "Let's keep going. Maybe we'll find some special treasures."

Dad quietly passed a third little gift — in the same wrapping — to Mary. "Here's your first gift of the season," he said with a smile.

"I'll open mine later," she said quietly. There was none of the usual lilt in her little voice either. Maybe she didn't want the sadness of opening an empty gift box. She seemed saddened by the comments of her sisters.

"OK," said Dad. And he passed a gift to Pua, the baby of the family. "Next year, Baby, you go first," he said. "It will be the first time for you to lead the way."

Pua looked at her gift. "Maybe I'm getting nothing for Christmas, too," she said, as tears welled in her eyes.

"You won't know unless you open the gift," said Mom with a smile.

Pua slowly, carefully untied the beautiful ribbon and, taking great care not to tear the pretty paper, unwrapped her first gift. There was a beautiful small box. She simply set it aside. "I'll open it later," she said.

Everyone seemed to understand, and not wanting to make an issue of it, Dad handed Mom her first gift, a square package in the same paper. "Here's one with 'Mom' written on it," he said, smiling broadly.

"Merry Christmas!" she said with a smile, as she took the gift in hand. Then, following the example of her children, she carefully untied the ribbon on her first gift. She had taught the children to conserve, by saving the ribbons for use again next Christmas. Some ribbons, she said, had seen 12 Christmases, since before any of the children were born.

She quietly read the attached card, then unwrapped the gift, folded the paper and put it aside. Then, opening her little gift box, she smiled again.

"Wow," she exclaimed. "I got a little box filled with love. Who could have been so thoughtful?"

Everyone looked at Mom. She was genuinely happy. And there were tears in her eyes too.

"But Mom, you didn't get anything," Tita said. "Your box is empty too."

"Oh yes, it appears to be empty," she said with a smile. "But with a room full of the people I love most, how could I complain? We had a good meal, we have nice clothes, and we have a roof over our heads. We're all together. How could I possibly have a better Christmas? I'm sure that someone packed this beautiful little box with love."

"But," said Nalani. "Your box is empty too. It's a cruel joke, making us think we had a gift and then there was nothing. How come you're not upset?"

"Maybe someone didn't have anything to give but love," Mom said. "Maybe it's filled with a prayer for peace. Maybe it's a reminder of that first Christmas. Did anyone look at the card to see who gave the gift to you?"

They all looked at each other. Everyone was so intent on finding a prize that they had not even looked to see who had given them the gift. As one, they all picked up their ribbons and there, attached to each, was a little gift tag. Their name was on it, and that was all that Dad had read as he handed them out.

Below the name, in carefully hand-printed lettering, the message read:

"I had nothing to give this year but my love. So I packaged it in the nicest box I could find." And it was signed "Your sister."

"There's one for you too, Daddy," said Mary, as she scrambled to the tree to pick out a gift for their dad to open.