Evidence is piling up (like those packages under the tree) that human beings were born to give. Their very physiology makes them do it. Studies show that when a person gives money to a stranger or a charity, the "rewards area" of the brain gets busy. It's the same area that goes to town when the person eats a sugar cookie or finds a parking place at the mall or receives a gift of money from Ed McMahon.

Not only that, but generous people also seem to live longer and stay healthier than those "bah humbug" types, according to population studies. It's even possible (scientists are busy testing this concept now) that the more Christmas spirit shoppers have, the fewer bugs they're likely to catch during the holidays.

Gift-giving, in a nutshell, seems to improve people's health and longevity. It lifts their mood and bolsters their ego. And perhaps most important of all, it makes people beholden to one another, so that when their goose is cooked, they have friends to save their skin. Or so goes the evolutionary theory.

"The most important thing I learned in writing a whole book about human relationships is 'give more gifts,' " says evolutionary biologist Jay Phelan, a life sciences academic administrator at UCLA and co-author of "Mean Genes: From Sex to Money to Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts." A gift doesn't have to be expensive, studies show. It really is the thought that counts -- well, the thought and the pretty wrapping.

With only five left before Christmas, stores and malls are expected to see gift card sales soar even more as procrastinators look for quick gift alternatives for relatives and friends.

Americans are expected to spend $26.3 billion in gift cards this holiday season, up 42 percent from $18.5 billion in 2005, according to the National Retail Federation. About 88 percent of shoppers polled by the National Retail Federation said that they will purchase two or more gift cards this holiday season.

Consumers are snapping them up because they're easy to buy, they're more acceptable gifts these days, and they ensure the recipient gets exactly what he or she wants. They're also becoming more accessible to shoppers. Simon Property Group, the nation's largest mall operator, offers more than 25 card varieties.

Sometimes, in our hoity-toity haste to malign a tradition that is seen as perfectly normal in just about every part of the country west of the Hudson River, we forget the true meaning of Christmas - and, while we're at it, the true meaning of Christmas sweaters. We may not remember that there are real, sophisticated people coming up with ideas for these things at companies like Coldwater Creek, Talbots, Marisa Christina, Quacker Factory and Berek every year, not some committee of demented elves pulling subjects at random from Santa's bag of tricks - i.e., ice-skating penguins, fiber-optic candy canes, halls-decking bunnies and so on.

And we may not consider that there is an art, if not a science, behind the intarsia.

"I truly believe that when you walk into a store and see a holiday sweater on display, it should make you smile," said Ms. McConnell, who oversees a team of about 30 designers and the development of about 3,000 styles sold through more than 300 Coldwater Creek stores across the country, in addition to its catalog and online divisions.

Holiday sweaters represent only a fraction of the company's $1.2 billion in annual sales, about 60 styles altogether, but the new designs are an important reason why customers keep coming back to its stores each year.

*****

The most important thing to remember is to be surprising and new, which is not so easy in a fashion niche with a limited field of stock characters. Holly wreaths are over. Mistletoe is so last year.

• FedEx: Saturday, December 22, 2007, is the last day to ship in time for Christmas arrival.
  
  
• U.S. Postal Service: Today is the last day to send domestic mail for arrival before Christmas. Express Mail sent by Saturday is guaranteed to arrive by Christmas (Express Mail will be delivered on Christmas Day).
  
  
• Amazon.com: Today is the deadline for free shipping for most orders of $25 or more. Tuesday is the deadline for standard shipping orders to arrive by Christmas Day. Last day for expedited shipping to arrive by Christmas is Saturday, December 22, 2007.
  
  
• ToysRUs.com: Free shipping ends on Tuesday, December 18, 2007, for purchases over $49.
  
  
• Bestbuy.com: If you place a qualifying order (meaning an in-stock item) by 11 a.m. ET on Thursday, December 20, using Standard or Expedited shipping, or by 11 a.m. ET on Friday, December 21, using Express shipping, Best Buy guarantees that it will attempt delivery on or by December 24th. If the package does not arrive on time, customers will receive a $10 or $20 Best Buy digital coupon.
  
  
• L.L. Bean: Last day for free shipping to US addresses is noon EST on December 21, 2007.
  
  
• Landsend.com: Standard shipping for Christmas ends at midnight ET Wednesday, December 19, 2007.

Slowly, inexorably, Christmas music worked its way back into the pop landscape until it finally reached a pervasive saturation unmatched since its heyday of '50s holidays with Coca-Cola magazine advertisements, specially decorated cartons of cigarettes and Perry Como TV specials. Even before Thanksgiving, stores and malls are now filled with twinkly, tinkly versions of "Winter Wonderland" and "Sleigh Ride." Father Guido Sarducci suggests an every-other-year moratorium on playing "Little Drummer Boy."

"I'm still sick of it from last year," he says on his protest Christmas record, "One Hundred Bulbs on the Christmas Tree Party."

A amazing parade of willing doofuses provides a steady stream of new Christmas records, without a trace of irony, wit or redemptive attribute of any sort - pure cashing in. Do you think there is any other possible explanation for a two-CD set of Christmas songs by Toby Keith?

**

Nobody makes a Christmas album unless they already have a following. It is seen as a way to extend the brand. Sooner or later, everybody who lasts long enough in the record business makes a Christmas record: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Elton John, the Kinks, Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Jimi Hendrix, Linda Ronstadt. Even hip, edgy rock acts you might think would be immune: R.E.M., the Pretenders, U2, the Ramones, Rufus Wainwright.

For the past few years, Dr. Howard Sobel, director of the Skin and Spa Dermatologic Cosmetic Surgery Center on 960 Park Avenue, has been quietly plumping up women's ears with injectable serums such as Restylane and Radiesse—the same ones he uses to rejuvenate their faces. "As people get older, the ear loses volume and shows wrinkle lines," said Dr. Sobel. "It's part of the aging process."

Dr. Sobel noted that if a woman is using fillers in her face to clean up things like naso-labial folds and forehead lines, making her face appear more youthful, then aging ears may stand out even more. Put another way, you want the handles to complement the vase—kind of like making sure your accessories match your outfit.

Though in this case, of course, accessories are precisely the problem. "One patient only wore big, heavy earrings, and part of the reason was that she was trying to cover her stretched-out ears!" Dr. Sobel said. "She didn't realize that the big earrings were only making the earlobe stretch more. When the hole gets too big it starts to pull the ear down. So we repaired the pierced hole in her ear and injected it, which added volume back, and it looked like her old ear." This is a common procedure, he added.

This year, there are more reasons than ever to regift:

Everyone is doing it. Well, nearly. 58 percent of respondents in MMI's 2007 holiday survey say they regift, or are considering doing so.

Times are tough. Rising gas and energy prices, home foreclosure rates, rising credit card minimum payments, the list goes on. 42 percent of MMI's survey respondents regift to save money. With consumers expected to spend an average of $900 this holiday season (according to the National Retail Federation), many will accrue credit card debt that lingers well into the New Year.

Go Green. For the first time in history, consumers are considering the impact of the holidays not only on their pocketbook, but on the environment. The good news is that "going green" doesn't mean forgoing all gift-giving and decorating. Regifting is a small step towards reducing this holiday's environmental impact.

It's the thought that counts. MMI's survey found that regifters have good intentions. 62 percent regift because they think it is something the recipient would really like.

"Whatever reason you choose, being a savvy regifter is key. When people say, 'really, you shouldn't have,' you don't want them to mean it," said Cate Williams, vice president of financial literacy for Money Management International. "With a little care and common sense, you can help keep your holiday spending under control, and participate in the holiday tradition of gift-giving."