Materialism, anyone?

An AP reporter relates the intriguing history of Christmas/winter solstice in a story on materialism in America. This theme will crop up at least a few times in class. Money stats:

By the time the Christmas shopping season is over, the country will have spent in the neighborhood of $150 billion...that's an average of $500 for every man, woman, and child.

A study performed in the 1990s concluded that the average person buys 36 gifts for 14 recipients, though the number is likely to have increased since then.

Merry Christmas, indeed.