Confession time: We are terrible at wrapping presents.

Why it matters: Our minds were blown by a better way to clad gifts in themed paper.

The big picture: Turning your gift diagonally saves on wrapping paper and, hopefully, makes it an easier job for the geometrically challenged.

• Think of this step-by-step guide as Axios' gift to you.

💭 Travis' thought bubble: Knowing me, I'll probably try this, do it poorly and end up using even more paper.

💭 Abbey's thought bubble: I respect a beautifully wrapped gift. I am a gift bag person, and I have made peace with that.

Google search data shows America is craving peanut butter this Christmas, with recipes for peanut butter blossoms and peanut butter balls topping the holiday charts for fastest-rising cookies.

The big picture: Kansans and Missourians are divided on the best way to transform that peanut buttery goodness into festive bakes.

Zoom in: Google Trends analyzed which Christmas cookie recipes saw the biggest spike in search interest from Nov. 12 to Dec. 12, and peanut butter-heavy classics led much of the country, according to data shared with Axios.

• Peanut butter blossoms — the soft peanut butter cookies with Hershey's Kisses planted in the middle — top the trend charts across the nation and in Kansas, Google told Axios.
• Peanut butter balls — a truffle-like no-bake cookie covered in chocolate — were a hit for Missourians.

Between the lines: Last year's map produced a patchwork of regional favorites like Italian Christmas cookies, gingerbread, snowballs and Christmas wreath cookies.

• This year's map shows flattened preferences leaning toward simpler recipes with fewer ingredients.

Google also mapped the top-searched cookie-cutter shapes, revealing state-by-state preferences for stars, trees, snowflakes, gingerbread men, candy canes and ornaments.

• At least Kansans and Missourians can all agree on shapes.

Fun fact: Google searches for specialty gingerbread houses more than quadrupled, with "charcuterie gingerbread house" and "Wicked gingerbread house" emerging as breakout queries, the search giant shared.

• Yule log and yule cookies are the most-searched yule-themed recipes. Hot chocolate searches doubled, and "hot cocoa cookie recipe" is trending.

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Scientists are learning how music can do more than lift our mood, from easing anxiety to helping experimental drugs reach the brain.

Why it matters: Music is a low-risk, widely accessible tool that could help more than we realize.

State of play: Music has the power to stimulate the body's reward system, like food and social connection, according to Daniel Bowling, an assistant professor in Stanford School of Medicine's department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

• That finding is "really important for mental health," because it means music can help activate brain regions and feel-good chemicals when someone is anxious or depressed, he says.

What we're hearing: Beyond the physical reaction of hearing music, actively listening and songwriting could offer anxiety relief similar to cognitive behavioral therapy — at least that's what research music therapist Sean McNally has been seeing in an ongoing study at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York.

• In that study, cancer survivors get one-hour music therapy Zoom sessions that often involve listening to music and discussing the emotions it evokes, and then songwriting based on how the patient is feeling.
• Music therapy is "not about distraction," but about "giving people agency over their emotion," McNally says.

The latest: Spiritune is one of a few new music therapy apps leveraging AI in curating scientifically-informed playlists to help users feel more calm, focused or energetic.

• The app has developed specific "sonic recipes" with 20 or so specific acoustic guidelines to help users feel a certain way, says Bowling, the app's scientific co-founder and a musician.

What's next: Lo-fi sounds could make help medicines reach the brain.

From white noise machines to pink noise playlists and brown noise TikToks, sleep sounds could be particularly useful right now as we deal with shorter days.

Why it matters: Scientists say these hums can mask environmental distractions and even sync brain activity tied to relaxation — though not all "colors" work the same way.

Here's how the sounds differ:

• White noise can sound like static, like when the car radio struggles to pick up 90.9 The Bridge (it's my car's fault, not theirs). It's all the sound frequencies people can hear, all together.
• Pink noise can sound like a steady waterfall — or in Kansas City's case, a fountain. It's like white noise, except with more prominent lower frequencies.
• Brown noise can sound like ocean waves crashing. Think the low rumble of the streetcar going by (without that metallic screech). It's deeper than both pink and white noise.

State of play: Research shows that white noise could improve sleep quality, particularly for hospital patients, babies and people with insomnia, says Jennifer Martin, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. It could also help with focus.

• Pink noise could reduce brain wave activity for deeper sleep. We don't have much data on brown noise.
• Yes, but: White noise could make tinnitus worse, and shouldn't be played too loudly.

💭 Travis' thought bubble: Brown noise puts me out like a light. All hail 12-hour brown noise Spotify playlists.

TV sounds don't have the same effect.

• "Once you fall asleep, the variation in sound becomes problematic," Martin says.