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The author reflects on the psychological aspects of gift-giving and the holiday season. He argues that the Christmas season brings anxiety to people due to the things being done during such time. However, he adds that Christmas may also overcome anxiety through the gifts or rewards one receives. The author also ponders on the concept of giving gifts.

This article reports that it is an age-old story in the animal kingdom: males give gifts to females to seduce them. The evolutionary benefits of giving gifts that boost reproductive success, such as food, may seem obvious. But researcher Natasha LeBas of the University of St Andrews in Scotland and colleagues believe worthless gifts also give males a selective advantage by reducing the investment they must make to reproduce. They studied male dance flies mating on Scottish farmland. The researchers replaced the insect gifts being offered with cotton balls, and discovered the cotton-bearing males managed to copulate for just as long.