This time of year always brings back memories of past holiday seasons, but we like to mix in a bit of the new too. Perhaps Grandma had a favorite December gingerbread recipe, but we don’t remember her searching for it on the internet.
But nowadays, holiday-related web searches are abundant. BetCarolina.com, which has the best NC sports betting promos any time of year, used Google Trends to analyze the most popular searches of North Carolina residents. We sifted through search results of the topic “Christmas” over a 30-day span (Nov. 10 to Dec. 10). Here is what we found, with at least one result that’s very specific to the Carolinas:
Rank | Search Result |
1 | “Christmas Nail Designs” |
2 | “Jack Black Christmas Movie” |
3 | “Charlotte Motor Speedway Christmas Lights” |
4 | “Christmas Vacation Cast” |
5 | “Christmas Cookie Recipes” |
6 | “Sabrina Carpenter Christmas Special” |
7 | “Sirius XM Christmas Stations” |
8 | “Real Christmas Trees Near Me” |
9 | “Drive Through Christmas Lights” |
10 | “Lindsay Lohan Christmas Movie” |
The top search among computer users, at least in the state that offers legal and regulated North Carolina sports betting, is for Christmas nail designs. There is no shortage of information on this topic; In Style magazine offers what it calls “60 elegant Christmas Nail Designs” for the season. Think of them as tiny holiday decorations that you can bring anywhere (as long as the nails don’t break).
Christmas-related movies also are of interest. Three of our entries are about various Christmas films: The second-place topic is “Jack Black Christmas Movie” and there are spots for “Christmas Vacation Cast” and “Lindsay Lohan Christmas Movie” as well.
For the record, the Jack Black movie is “Dear Santa,” released a few weeks ago (spoiler alert: Black’s character is not Santa at all). Lohan stars in “Our Little Secret” on Netflix, also released in November. Check out our favorite Christmas movies in North Carolina to see which classic reigns supreme.
At No. 3 on the list was an item that caught our attention as sports fans. That’s the topic of Charlotte Motor Speedway Christmas lights and it’s billed as “The Southeast’s largest drive-thru holiday light show” on the Charlotte Motor Speedway website. The display is open from 6-10 p.m. each night through Jan. 5 at various price points, starting at $35.
The lights go around the 1.5-mile oval track and the infield road course as well as pit road. But please resist the temptation to test your car’s cornering speed on the oval’s 24-degree banking in the turns. Why spend money going there only to drive so fast that you miss the lights? (Also, the track would take a dim view of anybody playing NASCAR driver for a day while steering a Subaru.)
Speaking of holiday decorations, they seem to get glitzier every year. Perhaps that’s why “drive through Christmas lights” appears on our list.
For more December cheer, see our story about North Carolina real or artificial Christmas tree preference at BetCarolina.com.
Author
Jim Tomlin has more than 30 years of experience at such publications as the Tampa Bay Times, FanRag, Saturday Down South and Saturday Tradition. He now lends his expertise in sports, betting and the intersection of those two industries to BetCarolina.com, among other sites.
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