The Holly and the I.V.

At some point between Thanksgiving and Christmas, after the leftover turkey is gone but before the mail-order fruitcake arrives, many Americans engage in the annual ritual of putting up decorations. There is no data set on when most people embark on this task, but an existing record--the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission database that tracks which products cause emergency-room visits in the United States--may hold the answer. As it ...