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Holiday retail reports dismal
Sales down in some sectors as much as 26 percent
BY ELLEN SIMON The Associated Press

    NEW YORK — It’s official: This was a rotten holiday season for retailers.
    A weak economy and strong winter storms brought total retail sales down between 5.5 percent and 8 percent from a year ago, according to preliminary data from SpendingPulse.
    Many economists have predicted this would be the worst holiday season in decades as home prices plunged, unemployment rose and nervous consumers cut costs.
    Compounding retailers’ problems were unexpected winter storms that snowed-in would-be shoppers everywhere from Seattle to Las Vegas to Boston.
    When gas and auto sales are excluded from the holiday period from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24, overall sales were down somewhere between 2 percent and 4 percent, according to SpendingPulse, a division of MasterCard Advisors that tracks total sales paid for by credit card, checks and cash.
    During the holiday season, gasoline prices were down 40 percent from a year before.
    A separate measure of holiday spending, from the International Council of Shopping Centers, is expected to fall 1.5 percent to 2 percent from last year, making this the worst season since 1969.
    A full picture of the season won’t be known until Jan. 8, when major retailers report their sales results.
    Food sales were strong, while clothing sales — especially the most expensive clothing — were dismal, SpendingPulse said.
    Sales of women’s clothing dropped 22.7 percent, according to SpendingPulse.
    Men’s clothing sales dropped 14.3 percent and footwear sales fell .............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00802

Quoted from Shadow

I'm with you Kevin, I don't do holiday sales either. As the saying goes "Jesus is the reason for the season" therefore it's Merry Christmas.

Quoted from Sombody

Merry Xmas-

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Dictionary: Xmas  (krĭs'məs, ĕks'məs)

n.
Christmas.

[From X, the Greek letter chi, first letter of Greek Khrīstos, Christ. See Christ.]

USAGE NOTE   Xmas has been used for hundreds of years in religious writing, where the X represents a Greek chi, the first letter of Χριστος, “Christ.” In this use it is parallel to other forms like Xtian, “Christian.” But people unaware of the Greek origin of this X often mistakenly interpret Xmas as an informal shortening pronounced (ĕks'məs). Many therefore frown upon the term Xmas because it seems to them a commercial convenience that omits Christ from Christmas.

WordNet: Xmas

Home > Library > Literature & Language > WordNetNote: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.
The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Christ; a quarter day in England, Wales, and Ireland
  Synonyms: Christmas, Christmas Day, Dec 25

Quoted from Sombody

No Xmas cards- no " presents " no nothing -  but I will be flying my elderly mom to Califorina tomorrow in First Class -