Percentage of Americans who volunteered through an organization in 2014, according to research by the Corporation for National and Community Service and the National Conference on Citizenship: 25.4

Altogether, estimated number of hours Americans volunteered last year: 7.7 billion

Estimated value of this volunteer service, based on the average value of a volunteer hour: $173 billion

Source: Corporation for National and Community Service.

When American adults were asked to consider the top three people they admire enough to call a hero, percentage who listed a family member, with 26 percent specifically referencing parents, according to a Harris poll: 32

Source: Harris Interactive.

With winter officially under way, record low winter temperature among continental U.S. cities, held by Bismarck, North Dakota, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 45 degrees below zero

Absolute coldest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. -- at Prospect Creek, Alaska, on Jan. 23, 1971: 80 degrees below zero

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of Americans who say they typically consider New Year's resolutions regarding their finances, according to the Fidelity New Year Financial Resolutions Study: 40 (down from 54 percent in 2013)

Percentage of respondents who are actually considering financial resolutions for 2015, down from 43 percent last year: 31

Source: Fidelity Investments.

Percentage of Americans who say that poor or insufficient sleep affected their daily activities at least once in the past seven days, according to the National Sleep Foundation: 45

Percentage who reported that they did not wake up feeling refreshed on any of the past seven days: 20

Percentage of those with less than good sleep quality who also report "poor" or "only fair" health: 67

Source: National Sleep Foundation.

Percentage of never-married Americans who would like to eventually tie the knot, according to a Pew Research Center report: 53

Among never-married women interested in marriage, percentage who said that it is "very important" to them that a potential spouse has a steady job: 78

Percentage of never-married men who said the same: 46

Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Percentage of American travelers who tabbed the back-bruising "rear seat kicker" as No. 1 on the list of the most aggravating airplane passengers, according to an Expedia survey: 67

Ranks of inattentive parents, the aromatic passenger, the audio insensitive and the boozer on the list: 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Expedia.

Percentage of North American employees who plan to pursue new career opportunities in 2015, according to a poll by Right Management: 86

Percentage who say "Maybe -- I'm networking": 8

Source: Right Management.

Rank of Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma, the former English teacher-turned-billionaire entrepreneur, on the list of this year's biggest financial gainers, according to Wealth-X: 1

Percentage increase in Ma's fortune this year (from $10.7 billion to $29.2 billion): 173

Ranks of Warren Buffett (23 percent increase), Bill Gates, the world's richest man, (14 percent increase), Mark Zuckerberg (34 percent) and Patrick Drahi (65 percent) on the list of this year's biggest financial gainers: 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Wealth-X.

Percentage of American adults who say they will probably or definitely purchase a wearable device of some type in the next 12 months, pushing this category ahead of other popular tech gear, including streaming media devices, eReaders and 4K TVs, according to research conducted by Ipsos MediaCT: 18

Percentage of adults who are very familiar with wearable computers: 41

Source: Ipsos MediaCT.

Idle Thought

"Life is just a short walk from the cradle to the grave and it sure behooves us to be kind to one another along the way." -- Alice Childress, playwright, author

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

Percentage of Americans in a committed relationship who believe that the simple act of holding hands regularly makes a relationship stronger, according to a survey conducted by Forevermark: 94

Percentage of Americans who hold hands often who say they are completely satisfied with their relationships, compared to just 35 percent of those who hold hands less often: 71

Percentage who feel that when their significant other reaches out for their hand, their mood immediately improves: 96

Source: Forevermark.

Rank of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who made the largest donation of 2014 by giving $2.1 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the form of 16.6 million shares of his company, Berkshire Hathaway, on the list of the 10 single biggest charitable donors of 2014, according to Wealth-X: 1

Rank of Nicholas Woodman, the founder and CEO of GoPro, who gave $497.5 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation: 2

Source: Wealth-X.

Amount of money that U.S. retailers report collectively losing in merchandise annually, according to a specialized research council formed by 40 major retail chains and a specialized University of Florida research team: $45 billion

Amount of that per year that is due to shoplifting: $10 billion

Rank of December on the list of months when most shoplifting occurs: 1

Source: Loss Prevention Research Council.

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

Percentage of adults 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, such as spending more time with family or friends, getting involved more in their community, meeting new people, broadening their circle of friends or joining a club or organization: 37

Percentage who have a leisure-related goal, such as traveling more or taking up a hobby: 34

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of ties sold annually that are Christmas gifts, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 20

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

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of adults who admitted to getting carried away with Christmas spending so that they end spending more than they can afford, according to a survey conducted by ComRes on behalf of Theos: 26

Percentage of consumers who do not plan their Christmas spending: 24

Source: ComRes.

Percentage of Americans who say that their top financial priority is getting caught up on bills, according to a Bankrate.com survey: 41

Percentage who cited paying down debt: 22

Source: Bankrate Inc.

Weight of New York City's famous Waterford crystal ball that begins its descent at 11:59 p.m. on New Year's Eve, according to the Times Square Visitors Center: 11,875 pounds

Year that the New Year's Eve ball made its maiden descent from the flagpole atop One Times Square: 1907

Number of versions of the ball that have been designed to signal the new year: 7

Number of 25-watt light bulbs that adorned the first New Year's Eve ball, made of iron and wood: 100

Source: Times Square Visitors Center.

Percentage of all Americans who make resolutions for the new year, according to the Journal of Clinical Psychology published by University of Scranton: 50

In 2013, percentage of those looking for improvement in the New Year who actually achieved it: 8

Source: University of Scranton.

Rank of Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman on this year's list of the 25 most liked celebrities in the country, according to a consumer survey conducted by E-Score: 1

Rank of Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock and Betty White, on the list: 2, 3, 4

Source: E-Score.

Idle Thought

"There are two possible outcomes: If the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery." -- Enrico Fermi, physicist and Nobel laureate

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

Date of the probable first flight of Santa's sleigh, a versatile, all-weather, multi-purpose, 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. and homebased at the North Pole: 75 cc (candy canes)/150 lps (lollipops)

Weight at takeoff: 75,000 gd (gumdrops)

Propulsion: 9 rp (reindeer power)

Armament: Antlers (purely defensive)

Climbing speed: One "T" (Twinkle of an eye)

Max speed: Faster than starlight

Source: NORAD.

Percentage of people who agreed that Christmas is about spending time with family and friends, according to a survey conducted by ComRes on behalf of Theos: 83

Percentage who agreed that Christmas is a time when we should be generous to people less fortunate than ourselves: 62

Source: ComRes.

Current price tag if one were to buy all of the gifts in the holiday classic "The Twelve Days of Christmas," up just $280.04 over last year, according to PNC Wealth Management: $ 27,673.21

Cost of one partridge in a pear tree: $207.68

Cost of two turtle doves: $125.00

Of nine ladies dancing: $7,552.84

Source: PNC Wealth Management.

Percentage of parents who say their kids are growing up too quickly, according to a poll, commissioned by BullGuard and conducted by Harris: 80

Source: BullGuard.

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 an Ipsos Public Affairs survey conducted on behalf of PlanG: 70

Percentage of Americans who say that "they would shop more often at a brand or store that gives back": 72

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

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

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

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

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of travelers who say airport security personnel should be on Santa's "naughty" list, according to a survey by HomeAway: 33

Source: HomeAway.

Height of a Christmas tree made made of LEGO and Duplo bricks in Sydney, Australia, (taller than an average two-story house and wider than a car) according to The Daily American: 32 feet

Length of time it took a team of five people to build the tree, including the basketball-sized baubles, a Christmas koala, a pile of gifts and a reindeer: 1,200 hours

Source: The Daily American.

Ranks of crowds and long lines, bad traffic, and aggressive or thoughtless driving on the list of the biggest holiday dreads, according the Consumer Reports poll: 1, 2, 3

Source: Consumer Reports.

Percentage of Americans who anticipate that the holiday season will be a time of joy for themselves and their loved ones: 75

Source: YouGov.

Idle Thought

"The most important scientific revolutions all include, as their only common feature, the dethronement of human arrogance from one pedestal after another of previous convictions about our centrality in the cosmos." -- Stephen Jay Gould, paleontologist, biologist, author

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