The birthday party

Nina Rijbelchenko was having a birthday. The elderly neighbor downstairs was going to hold a party which consisted of the two other sisters and me. It was my first party and I was excited. We were all poor, including the neighbor, but the idea of celebrating a birthday was a novelty on its own.
I was rather oblivious of the surrounding, but the neighbor's face is profoundly memorable in my mind. Tall, standing quite erect, with her knowing glasses, soft gray hair put up in a neat bun, she was clearly in charge. She introduced us to new games we had never played before. We were all immigrants.
All the games ran a tally for the available prices, which were neatly wrapped with a bow. I did not contemplate if it was old or used. I had never seen the beauty of a gift before, which almost superseded the content pf the packages. However, winning entitled you to pick first from the batch. Being naturally competitive, it was my goal to be first...and I was.
At that age the value of a package was often by the size of the package. Hence, I chose the largest gift of them all. The sisters had much smaller gifts. Innately, I was proud of myself.
The sisters were instructed to open first. They got a candy bar, perfume, and a cupid doll. All seemed to be great. Certainly, my would be the best of all. I could hardly wait to open it. I shredded the once beautiful gift to a pulp to reveal my surprise.
A surprise it was. I was the winner of a Kleenex box. It would be the first time someone would say that the best gifts did not always come in the larges package. I was clearly disappointed, eying those gifts of what could have been. I learned a big lesson that day. What a memory