Malls were packed on Christmas Eve. It will go down as one of the biggest days before Christmas on record. Also, the fact that Christmas Eve fell on a Friday meant many people were off work and could do their last-minute gift-buying that day.

The number-one aspect of the shopping season this year will be sales and promotions. If retailers can deliver good sales and promotions, consumers will buy.

There are always some people who will say negative things just to get attention from the press, ... Our forecast is realistic. It's not spectacular. There are some lagging factors such as unemployment and energy costs that could bring it down. At this time we don't anticipate changing our forecast.

From our consumer survey, we found that consumers plan to spend a little more this year than last, ... That's no surprise because consumers have a little more money in their pockets than they did a year ago.

It seems like this year it hasn't been as much of a challenge for retailers to find good quality holiday help. It seems like this year there are a lot of people out there looking for part-time work as well as full-time jobs. It's a great opportunity for people to make additional income and get their foot in the door.

The one thing that October showed us is that consumers aren't afraid to spend, even in a slow economy.