The period from the Thanksgiving holiday through Christmas and into January 2014 will be critical for retailers as many scramble to attain profitability for the entire year during this short, 5-week period of time. This year, The National Retail Federation expects sales in the months of November and December to marginally increase 3.9 percent to $602.1 billion, over 2012's actual 3.5 percent holiday season sales growth. The forecast is higher than the 10-year average holiday sales growth of 3.3 percent.