Just wondering… about Christmas
Seems like lots of Christmas decorating here at sunny Stanford. There’s a tree in our department lounge, some absurd holiday tunes playing at dinner tonight, and probably lots more.
Is there more tinsel because it’s warm here? Maybe if there’s snow on the ground, you feel all Christmassy even without smiling Santas on the secretary’s desks. Are winter weather and holiday decorations substitutes?
Gui suggests maybe the phenomenon is amplified by all the carpetbaggers here from colder climes.
Data, anyone?
December 9th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
I wonder if you could look at use of electricity the night before and the night after christmas as a proxy for how many Christmas lights a region uses.
That is, on dec 24th, people have most of their Christmas lights up. On the 26th, many don’t. Could this be a good proxy of how Christmassy a place is? The 26th and the 24th are pretty similar, except that one is before and after Christmas.
Of course, there are lots of problems with this idea (maybe in some places people are less likely to stop lighting their lights on the 26th)