Percentage of Americans who have tried a retail store, restaurant or hotel for the very first time after having received a gift card for it, according to findings of a survey commissioned by Givex: 41

Percentage who later returned to the business: 72

Source: Givex.

Percentage of Americans who plan to return at least one holiday gift this season, according to a Consumer Reports holiday shopping poll: 20

Source: Consumer Reports.

Estimated year that revelry and resolutions first rang in the new year, when Babylonians held semi-annual festivals around the spring and autumn equinoxes: 2000 B.C.

Fast-forward a few millennia to New York City -- the year that Adolph S. Ochs, publisher of The New York Times, commissioned the construction of a 5-foot iron globe studded with 216 electric lamps that would fall from a 70-foot flagpole at midnight in Times Square on the last day of the year: 1907

Weight of the sphere clad in Waterford crystal with 30,000 watts of light-emitting diodes that will descend this year on Dec. 31: 1,200 pounds

Source: "Dream It. List It. Do It. How to live a Bigger & Bolder Life" by Lia Steakley Dicker, a Seattle-based journalist, editor and author at 43Things.com.

Percentage of senior managers who said their employees are less productive the week before a major holiday, according to a survey by Accountemps: 34

Source: Accountemps.

Percentage of decisions and reactions made behind the wheel that depend on good vision, according to a survey commissioned by Essilor of America Inc.: 90

Percentage of eyeglasses wearers who sometimes drive without their prescription glasses and instead wear non-prescription sunglasses: 20

Source: KRC Research.

Percentage more waste -- an extra 5 million tons -- that is generated during the holidays compared with the rest of the year, according to a survey conducted on behalf of Plastics Make It Possible: 25

Percentage of U.S. adults who plan to reduce their impact on the environment over the holidays this year: 86

Percentage of those adults who know how they plan to reduce their impact on the environment over the holidays that will do so by recycling the plastic shipping, mailing and packaging materials that protect the gifts they receive: 66

Source: Plastics Make It Possible.

Percentage of men who would opt to toast with beer vs. champagne if given the choice, according to a survey conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of Samuel Adams: 60

Number of ingredients demanded by the rigorous standards of the Reinheitsgebot, the historic German beer purity law that states all beer must be brewed using only these ingredients: 4 (malt, hops, water and yeast)

Source: Samuel Adams.

Percentage of women who have had their mood affected by wearing an ill-fitting or unattractive pair of underwear, according to a poll published by ShopSmart magazine: 25

Number of pairs of underwear owned by the average woman: 21

Percentage of women who own 35 pairs or more: 10

Source: ShopSmart.

Ranks of Sophia, Charlotte, Ava and Addison on the list of most popular baby names for girls in 2010, according to BabyNames.com: 1, 2, 3, 4

Ranks of Aiden, Liam, Noah and Jackson on the list of most popular baby names for boys: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: BabyNames.com.

Percentage of Americans who plan to spend more on leisure travel in 2011 than they did this year, according to TripAdvisor's annual travel trends survey: 36

Percentage who plan to take two or more leisure trips next year -- a slight increase over the 89 percent who said they have done so in 2010: 90

Source: TripAdvisor.

Idle Thought

"New Year's Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual." -- Mark Twain

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

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.)