Shrimp Trees and Tiny Cows
micro holiday recap
I hope you had a festive few days off of work and away from the computer. While I did not give myself the gift of a screen-free Christmas — all of the TikTok Christmas hauls were just too tempting — I did spend a lot of time playing dominoes with my family, lying in front of a fireplace with a book, and generally being merry (except when I lost at dominoes).
I’m mostly taking this week off, aside from an exhaustive (or exhausting? you be the judge…) Christmas haul report, but first wanted to share a micro holiday recap and some of my favorite festive TikToks.
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If spending (and my TikTok feed) is any indication, many of us had a very merry holiday. Despite lingering inflation, Americans increased their spending this holiday season, with retail sales rising 3.1 percent from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 compared to the same period the previous year. Spending increased across many categories, with restaurants experiencing one of the largest jumps at 7.8 percent, while apparel rose 2.4 percent.
Of course, more spending = more debt. According to Bank of America’s data, 40% of Gen Z and millennials expect to go into debt to make it through the holidays, and younger shoppers are taking advantage of financing options like Buy Now, Pay Later to cover expenses they can’t afford upfront. BNPL accounted for 7.2% of all online sales over Black Friday and Cyber Week, up 25% from last year.
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