HAVE YOURSELF A CHINTZY LITTLE CHRISTMAS: The last holiday shopping weekend falls short of expectations. Well, the Retail Support Brigade has been thrown into the breach too many times, with too little support. Even the best troops give out at some point. Especially when they’re poorly led and provisioned.

I did notice that the parking lots at my nearby mall — usually jam-packed the last week or two before Christmas — were looking surprisingly un-full.