Here's (maybe) why so many couples get engaged between Thanksgiving and New Year's

The holidays are time for twinkling lights, spending time with family, gaining ten pounds in cookies, and seeing a ton of people announce their engagements on Facebook and Instagram. Chillisauce surveyed 10,000 people in the UK about their thoughts on holiday proposals and the results were quite interesting. Christmas and New Year's are a magical and romantic time of year — seemingly ideal for couples to take such a monumental and sentimental leap. Who wouldn't want to be able to take a picture in front of a Christmas tree with a glass of champagne in one hand and a shiny new ring on the other?

According to the survey results, 31% of people thought Christmas Eve was the best day to propose. 7% picked Christmas Day and 18% thought New Year's Eve was the ideal time to pop the question. There are a lot of reasons this season is a top pick for guys to propose. Sure, it may seem like an obvious time, but most people have already talked about marriage so women expect a proposal at some point anyway.

So, why not pick everyone's favorite time of year to make your memories? Family is already gathered around to celebrate, and people typically have extra days off of work which makes taking time to revel in the proposal easier. People also love a good story, and the holiday season is the perfect backdrop for that. Ellen Lamont, assistant professor of sociology at Appalachian State University, told Quartz, "My research shows that people almost always know the proposal is coming, so it's not a surprise. They've talked about getting married and have laid out their life to a certain extent. But women still want me to do the proposing. They want the idea of a grand gesture, they want this nice narrative to tell their friends, and it becomes this symbol of the man's level of commitment."

Sandy Moretta (Director at UK Alliance of Wedding Planners) remarks, "Two of the reasons the Christmas season is so magical is due to romance and family, two element which proposals combine so perfectly. So planning a proposal in the Winter months makes a lot of sense. On a practical note, if they wish to be really traditional, as many of my clients do, they are also likely to see the bride's father to formally ask for her hand at this time of year."

This makes total sense since the data collected showed that the elements people who picked the Christmas season to get engaged wanted most is romance, family, for it to be given as a present, a festive spirit, and memorability.

According to the data, other popular proposal dates are the woman's birthday, the day the couple first met, and Valentine's Day. You can check out all of the data (including some pretty interesting stats on social media proposals and women who ask men for their hand in marriage) over on Chillisauce. Congratulations to all the newly engaged couples out there!

(Image via Flickr/Brandon Atkinson)