With the exception of Christmas Day, when so many consumers turn their attention from gift shopping to gift giving, our data reported sales over $100 million dollars in each day of this latest week.

The biggest surprise to us this year was the late-season surge in the week before Christmas. This occurred at a time when we usually see a pronounced drop-off in purchases. Instead, we saw a 57 percent growth surge driven by people buying online and picking up in stores as well as the commitment by online merchants to deliver in time.

We swam seven miles a day over the Christmas break. That's the way we tallied it.

The greatest book about giving that I've ever read is 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens, about Scrooge and how happy he was when he started doing things to help Tiny Tim's impoverished family, ... Remember? His whole attitude changed and he was happy.

We certainly are going to be giving (parking) lots special attention over the next couple of weeks.

[? An early Christmas wish from Marisa Tompkins of Tega Cay, S.C.:] Why don't we sacrifice our own gift-giving during the holidays and adopt a hurricane victim family? ... Wouldn't our blessings do more good if invested in the future of the people of Louisiana. ... Where do we start?