<p>One thought would be a paper that does a statistical analysis of the holidays in some way, such as spending habits or New Year's resolutions.  I don't have any great ideas here.  One example is:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.64.2288&amp;rep=rep1&amp;type=pdf" rel="nofollow">"Seasonal Solow Residuals and Christmas: A Case for Labor Hoarding and Increasing Returns"</a></li>
<li><a href="https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/handle/10355/2649" rel="nofollow">"Twas Four Weeks before Christmas: Retail Sales and the Length of the Christmas Shopping Season"</a></li>
</ul>
