POLL: What Americans Want for the Holidays

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Nov. 26, 2005

One woman, somewhat darkly, asked for not just any house, but: "My husband's house."

While some male respondents are quite specific automotively, some women are every bit their equal in the jewelry department. While many just want jewelry, one 47-year-old woman specified: "I want diamond earrings. I want big ones! Really big ones, honking big!" Another had thought it out even further, and a bit more demurely: "A blue diamond set in a platinum setting for my small pinkie finger on my left hand." If you please.

Tools make the list -- a lawn mower, a cordless drill, a circular saw. Toys make the list -- fishing rods, snow shoes, golf clubs, even a Barbie. Some people want trips -- to Hawaii, Florida, Las Vegas, Jamaica, Europe, Brazil, Arkansas, Greece, to a warmer climate, "to anywhere." There are watches, books, glasses, horses, "a puppy," a yoga ball, season tickets to the Saints, a Limp Bizkit CD, piano, a guitar.

And there are intangibles. "Privacy" is what one 77-year-old man wants for Christmas. "Peace and serenity" would do it for another person. "Time with the family" sounds good, and a 74-year-old Westerner simply "would like for someone to stop by to say hello."

One 19-year-old respondent couldn't help himself from the corny answer: "My two front teeth" are his Christmas wish. But the best answer of all came from a 45-year-old mother: "My son just came home from Iraq," she said, "so I have everything I need."

Methodology

This ABC News poll was conducted by telephone Nov. 16-20, 2005, among a random national sample of 1,003 adults. The results have a three-point error margin. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by TNS of Horsham, Pa.