Christmas By the Numbers

The one about fruit cake is really scary. JL

Amy Roberts reports in CNN:

With Christmas comes Christmas trivia. Here's a look at the holiday by the numbers 30.8 million - Real Christmas trees purchased in the United States in 2011.

16 - Percentage of real trees sold that were "cut-your own."

4.1% - Expected amount of increased holiday sales in the United States in 2012 over last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

586.1 billion - Amount of expected total sales, if they do increase by 4.1%.

62 - Percentage of Americans who attend religious services on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

More than 70 million - Poinsettia plants sold in the United States each year, within about a six-week period.

2.7 million - Candy canes manufactured each day by the Spangler Candy Co.

$107,000 - This year's cost of all of the gifts in "The Twelve Days of Christmas" song.

364 - Total number of Christmas gifts the "true love" gives.

27 - Percentage of people surveyed in 2009 who said they wrap their gifts to others a day or two before Christmas.

4 inches - Real-life height of the young Rudolph figure used in the stop-motion animated TV holiday classic, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

21% - Expected increase in employment for dentists from 2010 to 2020. That's good news for Hermey, Rudolph's friend who wants to be a dentist instead of making toys.

74 - Percentage of adults who said the female head of the household was most likely to be the one to wrap all of the family's gifts.

90% - Estimated decline in the next 50 years of the availability of frankincense, an aromatic resin used to make perfumes. Gold, frankincense and myrrh were the three gifts the Magi gave to Jesus.

3 years - Shelf life of a store-bought Christmas fruitcake (if it's refrigerated).