It's December! Let's see some statistics about Christmas:
1 – Alcohol consumption in Britain increases by 40% in December, more than any other country in the world, with Germany, Canada and France following. Fortunately, the drink-driving also decreases in UK, which means that people will also walk more to the pub, so this whole drinking during December actually promotes health and fitness. Well, I know I will be drinking this Christmas, in my room, alone.
2 – On the same happy note, it seems that people’s tendency to take their own life will also decrease during Christmas(contrary to popular belief), but murder rates will rise significantly in Germany (6.4%), the US, France and Italy (5.7%). It must be all those carols.
3 –Heart related deaths increase with 5% during the holidays, according to this study.
4 – Each year, during the holiday season, fires kill more than 400 Americans and injure 1,650 more.
5 – You are more likely to die during the Holidays. A study analyzing 57.5 million death certificates shows the chance of dying during holiday period increases between 3% and 9%. Here is the study.
6 - Around 40 million Christmas trees are cut every year in North America. You won’t really save a tree if you choose to buy a plastic one, but you can save a small pine tree that is growing on a rocky part of the forest and might die (take it, bring it home, put it in a pot and plant it during March).
7 - More than 80,000 people a year need hospital treatment for injuries such as falls, cuts and burns during the festive period.
Also this:
I'll be alone on Christmas too, if not working with clients, but I prefer it to being around people and being obligated to put on the "Festive-Face" regardless of whether or not I really feel it.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite thing about Xmas (besides my mom's cooking, but she's dead now) has always been to get stoned and spend hours driving around (don't recommend driving stoned if you aren't used to it, and definitely not driving drunk if weed's not your thing) finding the most ostentatious christmas displays I can to stare at. There's nothing in the world that isn't improved by marijuana, in my opinion.
I even used to have a little Xmas-related saying I used to explain to people when I first started becoming a serious smoker (I had a sheltered upbringing, so I wasn't exposed to drugs much until I got out of the military in my early 20's, it's not like I was a teenage-junkie or anything):
"A bag of weed makes every morning feel the way that Xmas morning used to when you were a little kid." Even now, almost every time I buy a new bag of weed I'll push it up to my face and inhale that faintly-piney smell and go "Mmmm...Christmas morning."
I'll probably work on Christmas or around that time and my boyfriend will probably work too. I never celebrated Christmas to be honest and I hate all the fakeness of it. However, I do like to drink hot cocoa, grab some good food and watch old movies. I recently moved to an area with mountains and I know it will be snowy and I will get that "safe" feeling from being cozy inside the house. I might try your advice though, chocolate chip cookies will taste better.
DeleteYeah, the smell is quite similar
LOL, also the facebook stats are hilarious. The expectation of spending money on gifts really makes people re-evaluate their "commitment."
ReplyDelete"True love", my sweet ass... ;)
I can't wait for the pictures, the tags and the "look what my boyfriend got me for christmas, i;m so much better than you" posts.
DeleteI love how social networks serve absolutely no purpose other than to confirm my deepest fears that most people stopped maturing before age 5...
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