We feel it, around Christmas. It's a sense of generosity that doesn't really exist during the rest of the year. (We're calling it "Christmerosity" for this series.) Kids get excited about buying things that they are going to give away. Charitable organizations see a stream of extra income as people look outside of their own lives to touch the lives of others. Trees with wish-lists on them become bare as people give and give and give.

Why? Is it a grand exchange, everyone just giving to receive? Is it just cultural - people would feel like they didn't fit if they didn't do it? Or is there something about the message of a Father giving his Son that moves us to realize that generosity is just...better?