The Riley Report

This is the first ever Riley Report. This was ALL Summer's idea... not mine... but whatever.



This week's Report:

Christmas Facts

• Saint Nicholas' birthday is December 6
• 7% of mall Santa applicants had criminal backgrounds
• The approximate amount of money made taking pics with Santa in the mall in the US is $2,255,750,000
• Santa visits 842,000,000 houses on Christmas
• How fast must he travel to visit all those homes? 4,796,250 Mph
• 4% of Americans believe Santa, in the off-season, drives a sports car
• drives an SUV:25%
• 27% of pet owners have their dog or cat pose and photographed with Santa Claus
• 28% of Americans re-gift
• Which type of Christmas tree is displayed more during the holiday season, artificial or real? Artificial trees are the most popular with 40,694,463 on display in comparison to real trees at 34,335,809
• 180 Barbie dolls are sold every minute around the world
• 4 MILLION TONS of trash are generated annually from the gift wrap and shopping bags
• It is estimated that 400,00 people become sick each year from tainted Christmas leftovers.
• During the Christmas buying season, Visa cards alone are used an average of 5,340 times every minute in the United States.
• December is the most popular month for nose jobs.
• 1 in 3 men wait until Christmas eve to finish their shopping.
• We eat 10 million turkeys over the Christmas period.
• The average American takes six months to pay off the holiday credit card bills.
• Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United States since about 1850.
• Until fairly recently, all Christmas trees came from the forest.
• In the United States, there are more than 21, 000 Christmas tree growers.
• In the United States, there are more than 12,000 cut-your-own farms.
• The first decorated Christmas tree was in Riga, Latvia in 1510.
• Growing Christmas trees provides a habitat for wildlife.
• Christmas trees take an average of 7-10 years to mature.
• Christmas trees remove dust and pollen from the air.
• Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states including Hawaii and Alaska.
• 100,000 people are employed in the Christmas tree industry.
• 98 percent of all Christmas trees are grown on farms.
• 73 million new Christmas trees will be planted this year.

Thanks to:

The Christmas List; A Holly, Jolly Treasury of Seasonal Stats

http://trintje.blogspot.com/2007/12/9-random-facts-about-christmas.html

http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/trees/treefacts.html