The true gifts are the ones we give!

That's not just a trite Christmas-ism, either. A new study has found that the happiness levels of people who give gifts is much higher than those who receive gifts.

In fact, while the happiness from getting gifts quickly diminishes over a few days, the joy from giving sticks with us for days after, according to the study published in the journal Psychological Science.

To put the concept to the test, the researchers gave 96 participants $5 gift cards that they either spent on themselves or spent on charities or tip jars.

Upon reflection, the people who spent money on themselves were initially pretty happy, but over the course of those five days, their bliss faded. Meanwhile, the ones who gave the money away remained content for five days.

In a larger experiment of about 500 people, the same researchers challenged people online to a puzzle game, in which they could win 5 cents per round, and could either keep or donate to a charity. Then they asked the participants how happy they were.

Again giving prevailed: those who chose to donate their winnings had sustained happiness for days after they won, compared to those who kept their winnings.

"Our research reveals …repeated giving, even in identical ways to identical others, may continue to feel relatively fresh and relatively pleasurable the more that we do it," says University of Chicago Booth School of Business psychology researcher Ed O'Brien in a statement.