The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas typically sees increased consumer expenditures. If you want to find out how much people spent, try these resources:

Gallup provides detailed information on key periods during the holiday season, such as Thanksgiving weekend and the days leading up to Christmas.

Also try the library’s ProQuest Newsstand database. Enter terms such as CONSUMER EXPENDITURES or CONSUMER BEHAVIOR and CHRISTMAS or THANKSGIVING to find articles. Remember to limit to the correct time period.

ABI INFORM/Complete is another good resource. Try the same key words as above.

You can also find information by doing an Advanced Google search. Simply go to Google and type in your search terms (ex: consumer spending christmas 2012). Then select the cog wheel in the upper right of the screen and choose ADVANCED SEARCH. Change the LAST UPDATE line to whatever you need it to be and then search. You can also change the domain name to .gov or .edu if you want to limit to educational or government websites.