Hanukkah starts Sunday and Christmas and Kwanzaa are about a week away. To get you in the holiday mood, we bring you a special winter holiday edition of Friday Fun Facts. Today’s fun facts come to us courtesy of the Census Bureau, or as I like to call it, the Fun Fact Bureau.
- The Postal Service will deliver more than 20 billion pieces of mail throughout the season.
- Last year holiday shoppers spent $30.5 billion on gifts.
- Christmas tree farmers sold $493 million worth of pine trees last year; $114 million worth were sold in Oregon alone.
- Approximately $1.3 billion worth of candles were shipped to stores in the U.S. in 2002, many of which were lit during Hanukkah and Kwanzaa celebrations.
- Approximately $475 million worth of bubbly was shipped to U.S. wine sellers in 2002.
Bonus: There are many festively named cities and towns in the U.S. including Santa Claus, Ind.; Santa Claus, Ga.; Noel, Mo.; Rudolph, Wis., Dasher, Ga.; Snowflake, Ariz.; Holly Springs, Miss.; Mount Holly, N.C.; and Champaign, Ill.
