Holidays

The Chinese government has a New Year's greeting for Tibetans: Celebrate, or else. The Tibetan New Year, or Losar, is normally the most festive holiday of the year, when Tibetans burn incense, make special dumplings and set off fireworks. But this year, Tibetans have declared a moratorium on celebrating their own holiday, saying they will instead observe a mourning period for people killed last year during protests against Chinese rule.

For most working Californians, I suspect, the holiday season is only a distant memory. They're back deep into the grind. And it will be months before there's another company-paid official holiday, Memorial Day. For state employees, however, the holiday season never seems to end. Their first relief from the back-to-work grind will come Monday, Martin Luther King Day. In February, they'll get two holidays four days apart: Lincoln's birthday and Washington's birthday.

As he always does on Sept. 11, Ed Casso spent much of the day last year in his living room watching the solemn memorials on television. It had been precisely seven years since terrorists hijacked commercial jets and crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Casso, 34, could feel the passage of time taking its toll. "Every year there's a little less coverage," he said. "Every year there's a little less feeling."

With only 129 shopping days left until Christmas, the Sears and Kmart chains are trying to entice customers to start saving for the holidays early with a Christmas Club card program. Shoppers who join the program can add money on a regular basis to their cards and receive a 3% reward, up to a $100 value, based on the value of the balance Nov. 14. The card is free, available in stores and online and must be activated by Oct. 31 to be eligible for the 3% reward. Shoppers will need a minimum balance of $5 to use their cards.

This holiday season, don't be surprised if your gifts come from discount stores -- or if some of your friends don't buy you anything at all. Lingering economic worries will cause holiday shoppers to trim budgets and look for more deals this year, according to a National Retail Federation survey to be released today. The survey found that U.S. consumers plan to spend an average of $682.74 on holiday shopping, a 3.2% drop from $705.01 last year. The findings are in line with recent projections by numerous analysts and retail groups that call for a flat to negative Christmas season as consumers continue to worry about their jobs and finances.

Despite airfares and hotel rates that are among the lowest in over a decade, more recession-battered travelers will forgo the airports, hit the freeways and stay with family and friends to save money during the upcoming holiday season. This Thanksgiving, the number of passengers traveling by air nationwide will be down 4% from last year, according to a report released Monday by the Air Transport Assn., a trade group that represents the nation's leading airlines. The group attributes the drop to declining demand despite air fares that, according to its report, are at the lowest levels since 1998.

It still won't look a lot like Christmas for retailers this year. Retail sales during the crucial November-December period are projected to fall 1%, to $437.6 billion, from the same period in 2008, the National Retail Federation said in its holiday forecast to be released today. That's bad, but not quite so dismal as the 3.4% drop last year, the trade group said. "The expectation of another challenging holiday season does not come as news to retailers," said Tracy Mullin, the group's president.

While other sectors hit the reset button during the bleak holiday season, the video game industry rang up a 9% increase in U.S. sales during December as consumers hunkered down at home, many with their Wii game consoles. The gain was led by a 15% uptick in sales of games, including Call of Duty: World at War, Wii Fit, Mario Kart and Guitar Hero World Tour, market research firm NPD Group Inc. said Thursday. For the year, sales of games, consoles and accessories grew 19% to $21.