Notable Numbers

Christmas statistics that deserve a doubletake

$144 million Total of Salvation Army’s 2015 red kettle collections

30 million Number of Americans helped by that campaign

$500,000 Largest single donation in red kettle history, in Minnesota in 2015

1891 Year of the first red kettle campaign, in San Francisco

1863 Year a drawing of Santa Claus by Thomas Nast appeared in Harper’s Weekly, creating the image still seen today

$52 Cost of a child’s Christmas Eve ticket on the Polar Express train ride from Bryson City to the North Pole on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad

$1,200 Approximate cost of airplane ticket from New York to the North Pole, Alaska, on Christmas Eve

$15 A child’s ticket on a genuine sleigh ride at the National Elk Refuge near Jackson Hole, Wyo. Snow guaranteed.

$3,699 Cost of a full size sleigh at GardenFun.com, display only

$499 Cost of a pair of large reindeer to go with that sleigh — display only

$149 Cost of a Central Park carriage ride package in New York City

$695 Christmas Eve stay in Trump International hotel in New York City

40 to 50 Percentage discounts on clothing at the day after Christmas sales

$2,500 Cost of a custom “Victorian Santa Costume” on the Etsy website

$10.19 Cost of a disposable Santa suit at Home Depot on the same site