Americans Ready for A Merrier Christmas Even If They Have to Spend Less
Fifty-eight percent of Americans foresee a merrier Christmas in 2011 despite negative feelings about the economy. In the 12th annual survey of Christmas in America, commissioned by My Merry Christmas.com, several revealing details of how, and why, Christmas is celebrated emerge from a recession-weary American public.
“Since 2008 we’ve seen dramatic downward shifts in the attitudes about Christmas,” said Jeff Westover, founder of My Merry Christmas.com. “Almost everything we tracked was tied to the economy. From employment to shopping, even attitudes about foods and decorating, all indicators pointed to a negative trend applied to Christmas. This year those attitudes appear to be shifting a bit and I think it is because folks have grown weary of the economy dictating their happiness with life events like Christmas.”
For example, last year less than 12% of people felt they would spend more on Christmas decorations than the previous year. That number hasn’t changed much — just 14 percent feel that way in 2011. But, of those who said they will decorate in 2011 the number has jumped significantly from 56% to 71%.
“Money is startnig to separate its connection to Christmas activity,” Westover said. “Folks are in the mood for Christmas this year. They’re just going to watch how they spend their money in doing it. That means decorating with traditional stuff rather than buying new, baking things at home instead of going out to eat, listening to classic music versus buying new, using the old artificial tree instead of getting a new one. Dr. Seuss was right — Christmas doesn’t come from a store and this is the year Americans believe that.”
Similar shifts about what people will “do” for Christmas versus how much they will spend is evident in many categories this Christmas — from baking to crafting to seeking out Christmas online — Christmas activity will be in style in 2011. For the complete report of the trends of Christmas in America 2011, please visit http://mymerrychristmas.com/library/christmas-present-4/christmas-in-america-2011-a-merrier-christmas-by-spending-less-275/.
Merry Christmas Recipes.com Aims to Become the Largest Library of Christmas Recipes Online
Merry Christmas Recipes.com has launched today to become the world’s most comprehensive resource for Christmas recipes online. The site collects, catalogues and presents recipes submitted by Christmas fans all over the world via the world’s largest online Christmas community found at the Merry Forums of My Merry Christmas.com. The site has published their first cookbook of world-wide recipes, titled “The Sweet Treats of Christmas” as a fund raising effort for Santa’s Sleigh.
“This is a massive and exciting project,” said Jeff Westover, CEO of Merry Network LLC, parent company of Merry Christmas Recipes.com and publisher of more than thirty other websites dedicated to Christmas. “Food is an essential element of both the sacred and secular celebration of Christmas. Merry Christmas Recipes works to catalogue those submissions we receive from our network of sites to make them easier to access.”
Merry Christmas Recipes.com is presented in partnership with SayerFoods.com, owned and managed by Chef Matt Thomson. “Christmas isn’t just a day it is an entire season of festive eating,” said Thomson. “From desserts to entrees the creativity we’re seeing in these submissions is inspiring. From the mulled wines of Germany to the spicey staples of South America, there are no real limits to Christmas feasting. To bring that all together in a single resource will make it entirely unique.”
Merry Christmas Recipes.com spearheads an effort by the Christmas community online to raise funds for Santa’s Sleigh.org, a charitable effort designed to meet the needs of just one family at Christmas.
“The Sweet Treats of Christmas is a community effort,” Matt Thomson explains. “The recipes were submitted from community members from the USA, Canada, the UK, Germany, Australia and other points on the globe under the theme of Christmas desserts. We’re sure nothing like this has been tried before and we’re excited to see the results.”
More than 300 recipes are in the collection, now available to pre-order between now and when the volume ships in mid-November. The recipes are bound in a padded 3-ring binder custom printed and designed by Merry Christmas Recipes.com.
Christmas Comes Out on Top in Poll of Favorite Holidays
Americans often gather with family or friends for holidays, taking part in rituals and traditions as diverse as eating special dishes, watching a football game, gift giving or reciting meaningful prayers and songs. Holidays occur throughout the year but Americans don’t look forward to each with the same amount of anticipation. When asked to think about all the holidays that occur during the calendar year and say which one is their favorite, Christmas came out on top for U.S. adults, followed by the uniquely American holiday of Thanksgiving. Third on the list is Halloween.
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,462 adults surveyed online between September 12 and 19, 2011 by Harris Interactive.
Rounding out the top five favorite holiday list is another patriotic day as Fourth of July comes in at number 4, followed by the Christian celebration of Easter at number 5. The second half of the top ten list is dominated by non-religious holidays, with New Year’s at 6 and the bookends of summer, Memorial Day and Labor Day, at 7 and 8 respectively. And, the number 9 most popular mention when Americans were asked to name their favorite holiday is a different day for everyone as many people responded with “my birthday”! Tied for number ten on the list is Valentine’s Day and the Jewish celebration of Hannukah—the only non-Christian religious holiday to make the Top 10 list for Americans.
It seems American preferences do not vary too much in terms of favorite holidays – the top two favorites for every generation as well as both men and women are Christmas (1) and Thanksgiving (2). However, the third favorite holiday does vary somewhat: younger adults, Echo Boomers aged 18-34 and Gen X aged 35-46, both have Halloween as their third favorite, as do women. Older adults—Baby Boomers aged 47-65 and Matures aged 66 and older—as well as men – rank the American Independence, or Fourth of July, as their third favorite holiday.
