Seeds: Christmas sale season descends

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas – just walk into any store.

Thanksgiving's early spot on the calendar this week also moves up that major shopping holiday, Black Friday.

The day after Thanksgiving – and right into the following Cyber Monday – has become the nation's annual retail high point.

In 2011, Americans made an estimated 226 million shopping trips – in person or online – during that long weekend after Turkey Day; some even got started on Thanksgiving Day.

According to the National Retail Federation, they spent more than $52.5 billion.

Retailers expect those numbers to tick upward again this week as the nation gets into a holiday mood.

Decorations are part of that pre-holiday spending. This year's introductions feature a blend of tradition and technology.

"We're seeing a lot of really cool innovation coming up this year," said Sarah Fishburne, the Home Depot's director of design and trends.

Artificial trees are an example. Martha Stewart's home brand offers pre-lit fake firs with two kinds of LED lights – white and multicolor.

"With a flip of a foot pedal, you can change the light color," Fishburne said. "It's great for customers who want to change up the look of their tree from year to year – or if the husband likes multicolor and the wife likes white lights."

"Quick-set" trees make assembly simple. ("The branches only go in one way," Fishburne said. "With one hand, you can click it together.") "Easy-shape" trees come pre-assembled. ("It falls into shape right out of the box," she said. "It saves time and frustration.")

Or turn the tree into a musical light show. Maestro Mouse's Lights and Sounds of Christmas plays 12 carols and traditional Christmas tunes while making the tree's lights blink along to the songs. Voice activated, the controller hangs on the tree like an ornament.

"It's a fun thing for the whole family," Fishburne said. "The kids can sing 'Jingle Bells' along with the tree."

Holiday colors will look bolder this season, following a fashion trend.

"Just in general, saturated color is coming back," Fishburne said. "We're definitely seeing a shift in home colors away from more neutral or soft and airy shades to deeper richer colors – navy, harvest gold, blood orange. They're bold colors."

During the holiday season, that translates into deeper shades of red and green or opulent blue with silver.

"Oxblood this fall is the hottest color in fashion," Fishburne said. "There used to be a lot of lag time before a color like that would show up in home goods. But now, it's almost instantaneous."

Plus, expect some metallic bling.

"Christmas decorating definitely is the place when people really like to give a little extra wow," Fishburne said. "Glitzy is fun. It's festive. You'll see lots of metallics – silver, champagne, gold, bronze. It reflects the light and twinkles."

To help build the anticipation, the Home Depot will try to keep its Black Friday door-busters under wraps as long as possible.

Some ad campaigns have leaked out via Black Friday websites. For example, Kohl's Black Friday circular reportedly will be 64 pages with almost 1,000 special buys. Target's ad will be 32 pages featuring close to 300 bargains.

According to BlackFriday.com, the best buys for 2012 will be electronics (especially lesser-known brands of laptops and HDTVs), home appliances, DVDs and video games.

Some manufacturers have taken the Black Friday lead by offering deals regardless of retailer. Vacuum maker Dyson, for example, will slice 25 percent off its entire line in any store and online at www.dyson.com. The sale starts at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time Thanksgiving Day (that's 9:01 p.m. Wednesday) and ends at 11:59 p.m. Nov. 26.

An early Thanksgiving means one more thing – more shopping days until Christmas. There are 32 starting with Black Friday – two more than last year. How will that effect Friday's crowds? We'll see.

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