There were 669 million plastic card transactions in December 2006, six per cent more than during December 2005, equating to a record 250 transactions per second - day and night - through the month. Spending on plastic cards accounted for 63 per cent of total retail sales.

Spending in December 2006 on plastic reached a record high of £31 billion. This equated to an average spend on plastic cards in December 2006 of £1,281 per household.

Citizens Advice says they were approached for help with 15% more debt problems in January 2007 than in January 2006.

Research from MoneyExpert.com shows more than a million bills were not paid by Britons in January 2007 as a result of excessive spending over the holiday season.

On average £419 will be spent on presents according to research from fool.co.uk and one in twenty people really push the boat out and spend over £1,000.

British shoppers are expected to spend a record-breaking £14bn on their Christmas shopping online this festive season, making them Europe's most internet-obsessed consumers. Britain is the largest online retail market with more than 27 million people expected to buy over the internet over Christmas.

British consumers are expecting to spend more than £600 each on average during the festive period, with higher spends for households containing children, averaging £840. Almost half will not be putting aside any money for Christmas and 37% of people will use borrowing to meet the costs of Christmas and pay for it at a later date.

According to research by Cornhill Direct a third of people go into debt every Christmas in a bid to make it the best year ever. One in 10 are still in debt by the next Christmas.

Research from Alliance & Leicester Personal Loans has revealed that a staggering 23% of people have used store cards to help pay towards their Christmas spending. Of these over half use store cards simply because they were offered them at the point of purchase. This is despite some eye-watering interest rates which can easily make the effects of those festive purchases last much longer than the Christmas hangover.

Grant Thornton estimated that 10,000 personal insolvencies in the first three months of 2007 were as a result of excessive Christmas Spending.

Christmas is the most significant event in the UK's retail calendar with many outlets making up to 60% of their annual turnover between November and January.

According to Experian three in four Britons admit to worrying about financial pressures during the festive season. The festive season is turning into ‘Stressmas’ as 20% of us are still paying off our Christmas up to six months later.

Whilst the celebrations and partying may be over in a few weeks a report from Virgin Credit Card found Brits take an average of three months to pay off the £13 billion festive celebrations bill they rack up each year, meaning the 12 days of Christmas in reality lasts 12 weeks.

According to the British Retail Consortium the average family accumulates 18% of their annual borrowing in December by spending twice as much than in any other month of the year

An interesting read - I bet the figures go up for this year!