Is Waverly happy with her gift? How do you know?

When Waverly and her brothers attend the annual Christmas celebration at the First Chinese Baptist Church, Waverly receives a twelve-pack of Life Savers as a gift. Waverly's brother, Vincent, receives a chess set, which is missing a black pawn and a white knight. Waverly becomes enchanted with the game of chess as she watches her brothers play and even offers two of her Life Savers to fill in as the missing pieces. Waverly is much more interested in the chess set that her brother received than she is with her gift of Life Savers. Waverly develops an affinity for chess and dedicates herself to learning the rules and techniques of the game. Waverly even uses her Life Savers to bet against her brother and an old man named Lau Po in games of chess. Waverly's willingness to sacrifice her candy indicates that she does not really cherish her gift of Life Savers. However, Waverly does use her Life Savers to gain valuable playing experience and become a better chess player.

When Waverly and her family go to the First Chinese Baptist Church's annual Christmas party, every child at the party gets to talk with Santa, and then choose one present from a stack of gifts. There are separate gift stacks for boys and girls, and for different age groups.
When Waverly goes about choosing her gift, she is very strategic, knowing she only has one chance at getting a present she'll actually like. She watches other children choose before her, and notes that "big gifts were not necessarily the nicest ones," and "the sound of the box was also important." She digs through the presents, "testing their weight, imagining what they contained." Waverly ends up choosing a present that turns out to be a 12 pack of Life Savers candies, and she "spent the rest of the party arranging and rearranging the candy tubes in the order of [her] favorites." She is obviously very pleased with her choice, as she says that her brother "chose wisely as well," indicating the she believes that she herself chose wisely. Later on, she is also able to use the candies to bribe people into playing chess with her.