255: Our Holiday Gift-Giving Guide

This episode of "This American Life" explores the complexities and often humorous challenges of gift-giving during the Christmas season through three distinct acts. The first act recounts one man's annual struggle to find a suitable gift for his unappreciative mother, culminating in a performance of Christmas carols that yields unexpected results. The second act features Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory," a nostalgic and poignant tale of childhood, friendship, and the simple joys of the holiday season in rural Alabama. The third act tells the story of a reclusive man who unexpectedly leaves his fortune, including his tree farm, to a couple who showed him kindness, only for their lives to be upended by unforeseen challenges.