Fun Facts

• According to the Travel Industry Association of America, travel and tourism generate $1.3 trillion in economic activity in the U.S. every year. That equates to $3.4 billion a day, $148 million an hour, $2.4 million a minute and $40,000 a second.

• The poinsettia was named for Joel Poinsett, a U.S. ambassador to Mexico, who introduced the plant to the United States from Mexico in 1829.

• Macy's first remained open until midnight on Christmas Eve in 1867. The store first featured window displays with a Christmas theme in 1874, and the holiday season has never been the same since.
  
• The seven principles of Kwanzaa are unity (umoja), self-determination (kujichagulia), collective responsibility (ujima), cooperative economics (ujamaa), purpose (nia), creativity (kuumba), and faith (imani).

• The winter solstice takes place on Dec. 21 or 22. In the Northern Hemisphere, it marks the time the sun is farthest away from the earth: the year's shortest day. In ancient times, people celebrated the winter solstice as a day of rebirth.