Counting today, there are just seven more shopping days until Christmas. This coming weekend promises to be the busiest time of the season, as bustling crowds of shoppers descend on malls and shopping centers across the country. Faced with the hassle of getting to and then finding a parking place at these facilities, a growing number of people have turned to mail-order catalogs and ordering gifts online. These businesses sell more than $234.5 billion worth of goods each year. Close to half of that annual total comes from people sitting down at a computer and ordering merchandise online. Each year, Americans spend a total of more than $3.6 trillion at the nation’s retail stores. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at <www.census.gov>.