With just two weeks left before Christmas, the holiday shopping is entering its high stress period. The upcoming days promise to be the busiest time of the season as anxious 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 searching prices and selections on a computer or smart device 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>.