Useless Facts – Holiday Edition

• According to "Holidaye Feasts and Traditions", written by Dennis Gilbin of London, England in 1583, "mistletoe must be hunge noe more than 18 inches above the heads of the peoples in order for a man to be entitled to a kisse from a maiden."  Boy, that guy couldn't spell, could he?

• Each year, approximately 8.9 percent of all Christmas trees erected in people's homes will fall over at least once, according to the group known as the Consortium of Superior Christmas Tree Stand Manufacturers. (and cat owners)  Mine has almost fallen one time, so far.  The angel has done a death dive off the top several times.

• Dairy farmers have long known that adding one part bovine urine to 25 parts fresh water and two parts maple syrup will generally extend the life of a Christmas Tree by as many as five days. Umm… who is in charge of collecting the cow pee?

• According to a 2002 survey by Gourmets of North America and Northern Europe, fewer than one in one hundred people have ever had a figgy pudding.  I never have, and hope I never will.

• The most people ever to bungie jump while wearing a Santa Suit happened on Christmas Day, 1989 at Gravity Canyon, New Zealand, when 42 people dressed in red with white wigs and beards made a jump at the same time.  These Santa groups are pretty wild.  They recently trashed a movie theater.

• The average household in the United States used 16.72 square yards of wrapping paper for the various end-of-year holidays in 2005. If non-christian households are excluded the figure rises to 19.74 square yards.  I'd say these estimates are low, especially considering how my house looked yesterday morning.  Even 20 yards of paper couldn't make a mess of this magnitude.

• AAA estimates that due to online shopping the average American household's gasoline usage in the quest for gifts has declined 1.95 percent in each of the past five years.  Considering that I hate holiday shoppers, if it were not for online shopping, it would be a pretty pitiful Christmas around here.

• Red gift-wrapping ribbon outsells all other colors combined.  And?

• Americans will spend approximately $12.762 million having gifts inscribed with names and monograms in the 2007 holiday season.   This practice greatly cuts back on re-gifting, unless you know someone with the same name or initials.

• Despite all the automobile ads depicting people getting a car as a gift, the Automobile Dealers & Re-Sellers Association of America estimates that only 12,240 cars will be given as holiday gifts this year and well under half of those will truly be surprises.  Good, since most car dealers are jerks, I'm glad they don't profit that much during the holidays.