The Dark Side of Christmas, Explained with Holiday Cookies

(holiday music)

'Tis the season to be jolly,

it's also the season to be fat, maybe.

The average person will only gain one pound

over the holiday season.

Unfortunately, they're not like to ever lose it,

according to the New England Journal of Medicine.

If you're already over weight,

you're likely to gain upwards of five pounds

over the holiday season.

From fat bellies to fat wallets,

71 percent of Americans buy holiday gifts,

spending an average of $830 dollars per person,

totalling $616.9 billion dollars

in retail spending in November and December.

That's more than half of our government's

$1.1 trillion dollar budget,

and more money spent than on these sectors combined.

95 percent of Americans are even

planning to buy gifts for their pets.

Not all animals are so lucky.

Reindeer meat is a delicacy in Finland.

The demand so outweighs the supply

that extra slaughtered reindeer are shipped in from Russia.

And something you may not know,

male reindeer shed their antlers in winter,

so the reindeers that Santa's show are female,

and they're probably making 70 cents on the dollar.

72 percent of Americans

believed in Santa when they were kids,

but only 31 percent keep up the lie up

with their own children.

I guess that's progress.

While Christmas is a boon for the Grinch,

it's not the greatest time to be the Lorax.

Nearly 83 million trees are chopped down

across North America and Europe every year,

and it takes between seven to 10 years

to grow a Christmas tree back.

Christmas tree fires account for an average

of $17.5 million dollars worth

of property damage every season.

The average household will waste $367 dollars

in energy costs on Christmas lights,

and an estimated 3,311 people will suffer injuries

putting them up or down.

Another big holiday waster,

the 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the US

could fill a football field 10 stories high.

With all that sadness,

it's no wonder that the two weeks before Christmas

is when couples are most likely to break up

during the year.

But because we love a happy ending,

December 25th is a day that keeps us together,

according to Facebook.

On Christmas day,

there are 34 percent more

new relationship status updates than breakups.

Happy Holidays!