Holiday Season

Candy canes, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, oh my. Holiday treats can wreak havoc on anyone's diet plan, but for the approximately 23.6 million Americans with diabetes who are trying to maintain good glucose control, the festive season can be particularly difficult to navigate. Nonetheless, this doesn't mean that diabetics can't join in the festivities, says Michelle Bravo, a dietitian and certified diabetes educator at the Johns Hopkins Diabetes Center. There are steps that can be taken to help maintain good health.

FOR MANY of us, Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without a visit to a train garden. One of my fondest childhood holiday memories is visiting a neighbor's small rowhouse to see her dad's train display during the holiday season.And that brings us to Pasadena resident John N. Sturgeon Sr., who has not only a passion for trains but opens his door to the community during the holiday season. Visitors can see the display beginning Thursday evening.I arrived for a preview visit at the Sturgeon home at 836 Turf Valley Drive to be greeted by the flashing red lights of a railroad sign.

This holiday season is shaping up as a big one for online shoppers, and we'd like to find out how they're faring.If you've had online shopping experiences, good or bad, that you'd like to share, please send e-mail to pluggedin@baltsun.com and tell us about it.Don't worry, we won't try to sell you anything.

Retailers are wrapping up the best holiday season of the decade, with many merchants expecting to beat their December sales goals.Spurred by a healthy economy and cold, but storm-free, weather, shoppers thronged malls and shopping centers through Friday afternoon, then headed back out to spend gift certificates Sunday after Christmas. Store and mall managers reported brisk sales of jewelry, digital consumer electronics and toys. Even sales of apparel -- slow last month -- have picked up."The last three days [before Christmas]

Stronger-than-anticipat- ed consumer spending drove December holiday sales above expectations for many of the nation's retailers, though shifts in shopping patterns led to clear winners and losers for the month.Discounters, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and specialty stores, such as AnnTaylor Stores Corp., posted even stronger gains than expected, while more moderately priced department store chains J. C. Penney Co. and Sears, Roebuck and Co. struggled, according to sales figures released yesterday by major retailers.

ANALYSTS ARE dreaming of an e-Christmas. After last year's better-than-expected holiday season -- about $3 billion of goods were sold over the Internet, despite some well-publicized technology glitches on some Web sites -- forecasters say 1999 holiday sales could reach $5 billion to $10 billion. How's the season shaping up? What areas will be strong?John SegrichE-commerce analyst, CIBC World Markets, New YorkThe way we look at it, last year was a tremendous season for electronic commerce relative to all expectations.

At Eastpoint Mall, scented lotions and soaps are nearly buried in an avalanche of (artificial) snow, snowflakes and snowmen at Bath & Body Works. Michelle Horton, manager of Wilson's Leather, is pushing the fur-trimmed leather jackets she says are hot this year. And Pokemon, the Japanese monster phenomenon, has taken over a chunk of the children's department at Sears, Roebuck and Co.It was more than a week before Thanksgiving -- the traditional kickoff to the holiday season -- but retailers were wasting no time preparing for their most profitable time of year.

IT WAS 5 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving. The fog was thick, the rain was pouring, and I was driving up Reisterstown Road, headed toward Owings Mills Mall, wondering why I wasn't still in bed.To paraphrase one especially cogent writer, Christmas was at my throat once again. My No. 1 grandson, my beloved Kaine, had seen a commercial for a talking Pokemon doll called "I Choose You Pikachu." His mother, now my formerly beloved daughter Jennifer, passed the news on to my wife, who informed me. I responded with my usual passion regarding Christmas gift-giving.

THIS holiday season is preparing us to enter a new century. It is a time for reflection on who we are as a nation, what we stand for as a people and how we want to shape the century to come.It is a time when we are challenged to become our best selves. So I am saddened when I experience the holiday season only reinforcing our identity as consumers.There has been a shift in our sense of self. Prior to the 1980s, most of us would probably have identified ourselves as citizens. We felt responsible for the welfare of each other.

Christmas in July would have suited most retailers just fine this year.Buoyed by low unemployment, high consumer confidence and a soaring stock market, many retailers expected the best holiday season of the decade.Now, as the critical holiday shopping season revs up, retailers find themselves decidedly more cautious."We're going into this with a level-headed and conservative outlook," said Laura Mahle, a spokeswoman for Kmart Corp., which plans its usual dose of holiday advertising, store promotions and community programs to get shoppers into its stores.

Consumers are expected to continue to spend cautiously this holiday season, with the National Retail Federation to announce today that it predicts a 1 percent decline in sales as people continue to worry about their jobs and the economy. This year will be the second-weakest holiday season since the federation began tracking sales more than 40 years ago, with sales coming in at $437.6 billion. Last year was the only other time the retail trade group has reported a decline in spending, with sales dropping 3.4 percent in November and December.

Free antibiotics. Cheap steak dinners at luxury restaurants. Heavy markdowns on clothes and furniture. The option to return a new car if you lose your job. Discounted tickets to the symphony. As the country's recession has pushed consumers to curb their spending, companies are offering some radical promotions to snare their business. Industry experts predict that companies will have to continue their aggressive discount strategies to survive after more dismal reports yesterday from the nation's retailers showed that consumers kept pulling back on spending during the holiday shopping season.

Retailers slashed prices the day after Christmas as much as 60 to 80 percent and extended hours to attract customers, but it appears their efforts will not be enough to salvage a dismal holiday shopping season. Early figures indicated a drop of as much as 8 percent in holiday spending this year, and retail observers reported lackluster crowds yesterday at malls and big box stores nationwide. "Everybody was saying it's going to be the second Black Friday," said Shavoune Desper of Laurel, who was shopping at Arundel Mills mall with her aunt Yolanda Townsend and several nieces and nephews.

Candy canes, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, oh my. Holiday treats can wreak havoc on anyone's diet plan, but for the approximately 23.6 million Americans with diabetes who are trying to maintain good glucose control, the festive season can be particularly difficult to navigate. Nonetheless, this doesn't mean that diabetics can't join in the festivities, says Michelle Bravo, a dietitian and certified diabetes educator at the Johns Hopkins Diabetes Center. There are steps that can be taken to help maintain good health.

Shoppers taking advantage of steep discounts and door-buster deals spent more than expected the day after Thanksgiving, providing retailers with a surprisingly strong start to the holiday season. But spending slowed as the weekend progressed, according to early surveys. And retail experts questioned whether stores would be able to keep up the momentum in a year when consumers say they are cutting their holiday budgets amid an ailing economy. By most estimates, this holiday shopping season is expected to be the worst in years.

They don't offend. They're easy to pick out. And people love to get them. Gift cards have mushroomed into the most requested holiday gift by consumers. Nearly 55 percent of people want to receive a gift card this year, according to the National Retail Federation. But the troubled economy is likely going to affect the way you and other consumers spend on gift cards. And there are more precautions you should take when buying one this year. If you do get a gift card, it might not be for as much as it was in the past.

Well, this is shaping up to be a cheery holiday season, isn't it? A recent Consumer Reports survey said 76 percent of respondents claimed they will cut back on holiday spending. And The New York Times said sales at the nation's largest retailers "fell off a cliff" last month and that this could be the worst Christmas shopping season in decades. Only deep discounters like Wal-Mart reported any gains, and even those are slashing prices to get shoppers in the door. Right now stores are so desperate for your business, they'll practically send a car for you. I got a circular in the mail from a chain store inviting me to a "Big One Day Sale" next Friday.

At Hampden's trendy Double Dutch clothing boutique, shoppers are buying more from the sale rack and making fewer impulse purchases. At Chesapeake Wine Co. in Canton, they're choosing cheaper bottles of wine. And at the Cupcake clothing boutique in Fells Point, the owners are ordering less inventory and subleasing some space to offset what they expect to be flat sales this year. "People are very scared," Emily Levitas, owner of Gotta Have Bags in Hampden, said about shoppers. As the national economic uncertainty leads customers to curb spending, retailers are facing the worst economic climate in years - and a gloomy forecast for the holiday season.

If you're thinking about looking for a holiday job to earn extra cash, take advantage of employee discounts and gain some experience along the way, don't wait any longer. Get moving. Like right now. Experts are forecasting a bleak holiday season as consumers struggle amid housing woes, stagnating income and turmoil in the financial market. The National Retail Federation said this week that sales will rise only 2.2 percent this year, the slowest growth since 2002. So that means retailers will be hiring fewer people this year.

Too often this week, Xavier Henry would look across the racks of sweater dresses, skinny jeans and other trendy clothing at his Melrose Place Boutique and see few, if any, customers. It's indicative of the sluggish holiday shopping season. Consumers stressed out about high energy, gas and food prices have cut back on their spending. Retailers such as Henry, whose store is at Security Square Mall, are hoping their bottom lines will improve starting today. It's the final weekend of the holiday shopping season, when procrastinators and those holding out for the steepest discounts are expected to crowd stores for last-minute shopping.