Percentage of Americans who said their top financial priority is staying current or getting caught up on bills, according to a Bankrate.com report: 36

Ranks of "paying down debt," "building savings" and "providing financial assistance to family/friends" on the list of their top financial priorities: 2, 3, 4

Source: Bankrate.com.

For the third year in a row, percentage of North American employees who did not use all of their annual vacation time, according to Right Management: 69

Percentage who indicated they would use all their vacation by year's end: 31

Source: ManpowerGroup.

Percentage of Americans suffering from a cough or cold who are still working out at the gym, jumping on public transportation and liberally shaking hands, according to a survey commissioned by Halls: 56

Percentage who are regularly kissing their significant other: 19

Percentage of healthy Americans who make no effort to stay away from cough and cold sufferers: 23

Source: Halls.

Record low winter temperature among Lower 48 U.S. cities, held by Bismarck, N.D., according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 44 below zero

Absolute coldest temperature ever recorded in the U.S., in Prospect Creek, Alaska: 80 degrees below

To put a different perspective on the word "lowest" -- record low temperature in Honolulu, Hawaii: 53 degrees

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of Americans who selected the cast of A&E's hit television show "Duck Dynasty" as having a reason to celebrate this season, according to a Harris poll that provided a list of choices: 45

Percentage of Americans who selected Paula Deen as the celebrity having the worst year: 46

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of single American women who said they wanted to be contacted within 48 hours of meeting a potential date, according to a survey by PickupMetrics.com about men's texting habits: 89

Percentage of men who don't make first contact for 3 days or more: 21

Ranks of desperate and needy texts, talking dirty, and being dull on the list of texts that make women skip the first date: 1, 2, 3

Source: Pickup Metrics.

Average age that echo boomers (those 18 to 36) say is the perfect age, according to the results of The Harris Poll: 38

Average age that Generation X (those 37 to 48) say is the perfect age: 49.

For baby boomers (those 49 to 67), their perfect age: 55

For the oldest generation, matures (those 68-plus), the perfect age cited: 67

Source: Harris Interactive.

Year Yahoo will buy Flipboard and Pinterest, according to the predictions of analyst house CCS Insight: 2014

Year Twitter will buy Snapchat: 2014

Year Orange (France Telecom) and Deutsche Telekom will merge: 2015

Source: CCS Insight.

Percentage of U.S. adults who say that they do not currently have a winter emergency kit in their car, according to a survey conducted on behalf of CarMax: 68

Percentage of car owners who report that they have an ice/snow scraper: 60

Percentage who carry jumper cables: 59

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs

Percentage of Americans who think it's likely that the planet will experience a major world catastrophe, according to a survey released by the National Geographic Channel and Kelton Research: 88

Percentage of those who believe it will occur less than a year from now: 32

Percentage of Americans who say they would rely more on their family, friends or neighbors over FEMA or a government agency (14 percent) for help in a catastrophe: 57

Source: National Geographic Channel.

Idle Thought

"It is kindness immediately to refuse what you intend to deny." -- Publilius Syrus

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

Percentage of consumers who plan to shop end-of-year sales after the holidays, according to a RetailMeNot.com survey: 79

Percentage of consumers who plan to buy gifts for themselves during end-of-year sales: 50

Percentage of consumers who have purchased a gift for themselves because no one got it for them for the holidays: 35

Source: RetailMeNot.com.

Estimated amount of money that Warren Buffett made per day in 2013, according to calculations by Wealth-X, making him the billionaire who made the most money this year: $37 million

With a gain of $12.7 billion in 2013, the estimated value of Buffett's net worth: $59.1 billion

Source: Wealth-X.

Percentage of U.S. adults who have some type of goal they would like to achieve in the new year, according to an Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of Strayer University: 93

Percentage who have health-related goals, such as being more active, eating more healthily or getting more sleep: 54

Percentage who have a socially oriented goal: 37

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Weight of New York's famous Waterford crystal ball that begins its descent on New Year's Eve, according to the Times Square Visitors Center: 11,875 pounds

Diameter of the geodesic sphere: 12 feet

Number of Waterford crystal triangles that make up the ball, varying in length from 4 3/4 inches to 5 3/4 inches per side: 2,688

Number of Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDs (light emitting diodes) that illuminate the ball -- evenly divided among the colors red, blue, green and white: 32,256

Estimated number of colors, along with billions of patterns, produced by the ball to create a kaleidoscope effect atop One Times Square: 16 million

Source: Times Square Visitors Center.

Percentage of neckties sold annually that are Christmas gifts, according to the Census Bureau: 20

Today in the U.S., estimated value of the necktie-making business per year: $390 million

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of women who claimed they had better sex with a partner while he had new facial hair from partaking in "Movember," a month-long mustache-growing event held each November to raise awareness for men's health issues, according to a survey by Durex: 45

Percentage of women who stated their partner is more adventurous with his mustache: 27

Source: Durex.

Ranks of Charlotte, Amelia, Olivia, Ava and Aria on the list of babyname.com's top baby names for girls in 2013: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Ranks of Liam, Noah, Oliver, Aiden and Asher on the list of the top baby names for boys in 2013: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: BabyNames.com.

When people were asked if they would rather give a gift with a $25 value, a gift certificate with a $25 value or $25 in cash, percentage who chose the gift certificate, according to a survey by Saint Leo University Polling Institute: 39

Percentage who said they prefer to select a gift: 24

Percentage who said they would prefer to give cash: 24

When it comes to receiving a gift, percentage of people who would prefer receiving $25 in cash: 41

Source: Saint Leo University Polling Institute.

When returning a gift, percentage of respondents who said they always or sometimes buy something else to replace the returned item, according to the Alliance Data Retail Services holiday habits survey: 93

Percentage who return gifts within a day or so: 16

Percentage who take three to eight months: 12

Source: Alliance Data Retail Services.

Ranks of a side dish, dessert, drinks, paper products and main dish on the list of items guests are requested to bring to a party, according to an American Express survey: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: American Express.

Idle Thought

"You've got to have something to eat and a little love in your life before you can hold still for any damn body's sermon on how to behave." -- Billie Holiday

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

Percentage of cat owners who go the extra mile this time of year to buy their cat the perfect present to put under the tree, according to a survey conducted by Temptations Treats for Cats: 46

Percentage of female owners who consider their cat when buying gifts during the holidays: 49

Percentage of men who do the same: 43

Source: Temptations.

Estimated percentage of homes that still put up and decorate a real tree each year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 20

Percentage of U.S. households that now use artificial trees to decorate for the holidays: 50

Percentage of homes that do not use a tree for the holidays: 30

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Number of children (under the age of 18) in the world, according to Santa statistics from Funs.co.uk: 2 billion

At a rate of, say, 3.5 children per household with at least one good kid in each, number of homes Santa calls on: 91.8 million

Number of hours Santa has to complete his Christmas Eve work, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the Earth, assuming he travels east to west: 31

Source: Fun.co.uk.

Percentage of attendees at the office Christmas party who kissed a colleague, according to a poll by TGI Friday's: 23

Percentage who made a fool of themselves: 19

Percentage who shared a personal secret they wished they hadn't: 10

Source: TGI Friday's.

Compared to last year, percentage increase in the price index in the whimsical economic analysis by PNC Wealth Management based on the prices of gifts in the holiday classic "The Twelve Days of Christmas": 7.7

Current price tag for these gifts, up from $25,431.18 last year: $27,393.19

Cost to a very thoughtful true love wishing to buy the whole shebang from a single partridge to 12 drummers drumming for each verse (that's 364 separate pieces of Christmas joy): $114,651.18

Source: PNC Financial Services Group.

Year of the first written record of a decorated Christmas tree (Riga, Latvia), according to History.com's Christmas Section: 1510

Year there is a record from Alsace, France (then a German territory), that trees were sold in the marketplace and brought home and set up undecorated and limited by law to the size of "8 shoe lengths" (slightly over 4 feet): 1530

Period it became common in Germany to decorate Christmas trees with apples: 1600s

Period during which the Christmas tree was introduced in the U.S. by German settlers, rapidly growing from tabletop size to floor-to-ceiling: 1800s

Year that Christmas trees began to be sold commercially in the United States: 1851

Year that Franklin Pierce is credited with bringing the first Christmas tree to the White House: 1853

Source: History.com's Christmas Section.

Percentage of Americans who indicate that they'll be "giving back" in some way this holiday season, whether it be in the form of money or goods, volunteering or both, according to a survey conducted on behalf of PlanG: 70

Percentage who say that "knowing a business gives back in some way impacts their purchase decision": 69

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Number of cases of wine consumed in the U.S. annually, according to the Wine Institute, Department of Commerce Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau: 330 million

Number of cases of wine consumed in France annually: 320.6 million

Average amount of wine consumed annually per U.S. adult: 267 ounces

Source: Wine Institute.

Percentage of Americans who will travel this holiday season, according to a TripAdvisor survey: 45

Percentage of travelers who will stay with family or friends: 49

Percentage who will stay in a hotel: 45

Percentage who will stay in a vacation rental: 9

Source: TripAdvisor.

Idle Thought

"Every saint has a past and every sinner a future." -- Oscar Wilde

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