If one were to assume that Santa works in the realm of standard time, estimated length of time he would be able to spend visiting each home, according to NORAD: 2 to 3 ten-thousandths of a second

Length of time Santa's Christmas Eve trip seems to take to us: 24 hours (Though, to Santa it may last days, weeks or even months in standard time because he functions within a different time-space continuum than the rest of us do.)

Source: NORAD.

Percentage of travelers who feel pressure to travel to see family for the holidays, according to the results of a TripAdvisor survey: 22

Percentage who have cut short a holiday family trip because they were "family-ed out": 17

Source: TripAdvisor.

Percentage of survey respondents who start at the top by eating the head of a gingerbread cookie first, according to the results of the annual holiday survey by Dunkin' Donuts: 64

Percentage who go straight for the gingerbread man's legs: 20

Percentage of cookie eaters who begin with a farewell to the arms: 16

Source: Dunkin' Donuts.

Percentage of consumers who will buy less-expensive gifts this year, according to a study by Ogilvy Chicago in partnership with consumer insight firm Communispace: 53

Percentage who are setting a budget: 45

Percentage who are making gifts: 24

Source: Ogilvy & Mather.

Percentage of respondents who believe being together with family and friends is important, more so than getting a raise (51 percent), having a career (47 percent) and having the best of everything (30 percent), according to survey by Bacardi: 64

Percentage of those with high togetherness who also have high well-being: 84

Source: Bacardi USA Inc.

Year that the first Christmas tree debuted at Rockefeller Center, standing only 20 feet tall -- about a quarter of the size of this year's holiday specimen -- and erected by construction workers eager to receive a day's pay in the depths of the Great Depression, according to Time Magazine: 1931

Height of the 2010 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree: 74 feet

Weight of the tree: 12 tons

Source: Time Magazine.

Year that the first Christmas seals went on sale at a table in the Wilmington, Del., post office for a penny apiece, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1907

Initial goal of the first Christmas seals sale: $300

In 1908, value of the Christmas seals sale: $135,000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentge of U.S. adults who would want to contact Santa Claus if given the chance, according to a survey sponsored by WhitePages.com and conducted by Harris Interactive: 80

Percentage of adults who would want to contact Saint Nick in person: 26

Percentage who would send him an e-mail: 24

Source: Harris Interactive.

Date of the probable first flight of Santa's sleigh, a versatile, all-weather, multipurpose, vertical short-take-off and landing vehicle capable of traveling vast distances without refueling, and deployed, as far as we know, only on Christmas Eve (and briefly for a test flight about a month before Christmas), according to NORAD: Dec. 24, 343 A.D.

Length of the sleigh, built by Kringle & Elves Inc., with a home base at the North Pole: 75 candy canes or 150 lollipops

Weight at takeoff: 75,000 gumdrops

Maximum speed: Faster than starlight

Source: NORAD.

Average number of years it takes to grow a Christmas tree of typical height (6 to 7 feet), according to the National Christmas Tree Association: 7

Source: National Christmas Tree Association.

Idle Thought

"We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done." -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)

Estimated percentage of U.S. households that have pets, according to a survey conducted by Pet Supplies "Plus": 50

Percentage of owners who will spend more on their pets than on their spouses when buying gifts: 28

Percentage who will spend more on their pets than on their in-laws: 54

Source: Pet Supplies "Plus."

Percentage increase in price over the last year of the 12 days of gifts mentioned in the traditional song, according to Pittsburgh-based PNC Wealth Management: 10.8

Estimated price of the five gold rings, up a third from last year: $649.95

Percentage increase in the cost of turtle doves: 78

Percentage increase in the cost of the three French hens: 233

Source: PNC Wealth Management.

Percentage of households that have an HDTV today, up from 16 percent in 2007, according to Scarborough Research: 48

Percentage of households that have at least one smart phone today, up from 7 percent in 2007: 14

Percentage of households that have at least one MP3 player today, up from 18 percent in 2007: 36

Source: Scarborough Research.

Percentage of U.S. adults who say they send cards during the Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year's season: 76

Percentage who like to receive lengthy "form letter" updates from family and friends: 51

Percentage of respondents who say they send cards to bring joy to others: 70

Percentage who do it to feel happy: 54

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of bank customers who have been hit with a negative credit experience for the first time in their lives during the past two years, according to a Deloitte Center for Financial Services survey: 11

Overall, percentage of consumers who have experienced a serious negative credit situation since the peak of the crisis in September 2008, including events such as delinquency, foreclosure, bankruptcy and charge-offs: 22

Source: Deloitte Center for Financial Services.

Approximate number of real Christmas trees sold in the U.S. every year, according to the National Christmas Association: 25-30 million

Estimated number of real Christmas trees currently growing on Christmas tree farms in the U.S.: 350 million

Estimated number of farms growing Christmas trees in the U.S.: 15,000

Source: National Christmas Tree Association.

Percentage of American workers who plan to make a dent in their holiday shopping during work hours -- either through online shopping while at work, shopping on lunch breaks, taking sick days or cutting out a little early periodically, according to the survey conducted on behalf of Adecco: 46

Percentage of workers whose jobs require the use of e-mail and voicemail regularly who plan to stay connected to the workplace throughout key holidays including Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Day: 71

Source: Adecco.

Ranks of local TV news, broadcast primetime dramas and sitcoms and broadcast network primetime reality TV among program genres selected by viewers when asked which type of program "is a major part of my daily routine," according to a survey conducted for Hearst Television by Frank N. Magid Associates Inc.: 1, 2, 3

Percentage of respondents who said they "pay more attention" to local TV news than most other TV genres: 45

Source: Hearst Television Inc.

Percentage of corporations that plan to spend about the same on corporate gifts for both employees and prospects or clients, according to a survey from Successful Promotions magazine: 57

Ranks of food, calendars and gift cards on the list of the most commonly cited client or prospect gifts: 1, 2, 3

Ranks of gift cards, cash bonuses and apparel on the list of the most commonly cited gifts for employees: 1, 2, 3

Source: Advertising Specialty Institute.

Percentage of coupon users who now cite the Internet or e-mail as a source for coupons, according to Mintel: 32

Percentage of consumers who said they got coupons from the Internet or had them sent to their e-mail account five years ago: 19

Percentage of respondents who say their coupons come from leaflets inserted in newspapers: 71

Source: Mintel Comperemedia.

Idle Thought

"If writers were good businessmen, they'd have too much sense to be writers." -- Irvin S. Cobb, author and journalist

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)

Average amount that holiday shoppers plan to spend on holiday gifts, according to PriceGrabber's holiday survey: $845

Of online consumers, percentage who said that they plan to spend $500 or more on holiday gifts (up 7 percent from last year): 66

Percentage of total purchases that the average 2010 holiday shopper will make online: 57

Source: PriceGrabber.com.

Percentage of all adults in the U.S. who were married in 2008, according to a Pew Research Center nationwide survey, done in association with Time magazine and complemented by an analysis of demographic and economic data from the U.S. Census Bureau: 52

Percentage who were married in 1960: 72

Percentage of respondents who say that marriage is becoming obsolete: 39

When Time posed this question to registered voters in 1978, percentage who agreed: 28

Despite growing uncertainties, percentage of Americans who are optimistic about the future of marriage and family: 67

Source: PEW Internet and American Life Project.

Percentage of the affluent who said they will not buy any gifts for this holiday season, according to a survey of the wealthiest 10 percent of U.S. households by the American Affluence Research Center: 12

Estimated number of households represented by the wealthiest 10 percent: 11.4 million

Percentage overall average decline from the $2,399 that the respondents say they spent on gifts in 2009: 3.9

Source: American Affluence Research Center.

Ranks of employee attitudes, effective management, strong trust relationships, and customer focus on the list of elements that workers find to be critical to company culture, according to Randstad's Work Watch survey: 1, 2, 3, 4

Percentage of workers who describe their current work culture as "all hands on deck": 38

Percentage who describe their work culture as a "process" culture, where it's all about data, grids and forms: 18

Percentage who describe their work culture as a "work hard/play hard" culture: 16

Source: Randstad-USA.

Percentage of workers who admitted to falling asleep on the job, according to a CareerBuilder survey: 45

Percentage who admitted to kissing a co-worker: 39

Percentage who admitted to spreading a rumor about a co-worker: 22

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of people who use the same password to log into multiple websites, according to research commissioned by Webroot: 41

Percentage of all users who never use special characters (e.g., exclamation marks, question marks, ampersands, etc.) in their passwords: 49

Percentage who have used a significant date, such as a birthdate, or a pet's name as a password -- information that's often publicly visible on social networks: 20

Source: Webroot Software Inc.

Percentage of drivers who say they are guilty of eating while driving during the past 60 days, according to a Kelley Blue Book poll: 21

Percentage who admitted to texting while driving: 13

Percentage who fiddled with the navigation system: 12

Source: Kelley Blue Book.

Percentage of U.S. travelers who confess to taking a vacation simply because they found a great deal, according to TripAdvisor: 60

Percentage of savvy travelers, unafraid to shop around, who subscribe to deals newsletters: 69

Of those who subscribe, percentage who receive between one and five deals newsletters: 81

Source: TripAdvisor.

Among online shoppers, percentage who search for online coupons or deals when they purchase something on the Internet, according to an online shopping poll conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of Offers.com: 63

Percentage who do so regularly: 21 (9 percent who do so always, and 12 percent who do so most of the time)

Percentage who do so sporadically: 42

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Predicted percentage rise in food import bills for the world's poorest countries in 2010, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: 11

Predicted percentage rise for low-income food-deficit countries: 20

Source: FAO.

Idle Thought

"Creative activity could be described as a type of learning process where teacher and pupil are located in the same individual." -- Arthur Koestler, novelist and journalist

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)