Postal Service to allow volunteers in Alaska town to write 'Dear Santa' responses. Wide-eyed children around the world will be hearing from Santa's "elves" at the North Pole after all.

UPS expects to deliver roughly 22M packages on its busiest day this year _ Dec. 21. UPS Inc., the world's largest shipping carrier, expects to deliver roughly 22 million small packages on its busiest day this year ? projected to be Dec. 21.

Travel briefs. Survey: 45 percent of Americans will travel Thanksgiving-March

Sudanese parties on Monday condemned abuses in voter registrations for the first multi-party elections in 24 years set for April, calling for the enrolment period to be extended.

Priceline.com says airfares vary around holidays. Priceline.com says average holiday airfares for Thanksgiving and the December holiday season are getting more expensive, but airfares vary depending on exactly which day you fly.

Survey: 45 percent of Americans will travel Thanksgiving-March. Forty-five percent of U.S. consumers will take a vacation or leisure trip between Thanksgiving and March that involves paying for overnight accommodations, according to a new survey released Monday by Deloitte LLP.

Holiday displays include tree made of feathers, Rock Center, Obamas' first National Tree event. This season's Christmas tree displays include trees made from feathers at a historic home in Indianapolis, a thank-you tree in Boston sent from Nova Scotia, and the Obamas' first National Christmas Tree ceremony in Washington.

Las Vegas New Year's fireworks back to rooftops. New Year's Eve fireworks will return to the rooftops of Las Vegas Strip hotels to ring in 2010 after ground-level displays disappointed revelers last year, event and county officials said.

End the decade in Times Square on New Year's Eve. Say goodbye to 2010 in Times Square when the famous ball drops at midnight on New Year's Eve.

Smithsonian exhibit on commercial holiday displays. Santa Claus is making an early appearance to open a new exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History on the art and business of commercial holiday displays.

Target nears $436 million in third quarter, up 18 percent; Expects lots of holiday discounts. Target Corp.'s third-quarter profit climbed 18 percent, the cheap chic retailer said Tuesday, as it cut costs and did better in its credit-card business. Still, it offered a conservative outlook for the holidays.

Colo. grocery workers set to vote on final offer after 7 months of contract negotiations. Safeway and King Soopers say they've given union workers their last, best, final contract offer.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Discount retailer Target Corp <TGT.N> reported third-quarter results that beat Wall Street expectations but forecast a holiday quarter profit that could fall short of estimates, and its shares fell over 5 percent.

Santa promised children on Tuesday he would travel around the world to bring them Christmas presents despite the global swine flu pandemic.

Holiday downsizing: South Carolina Statehouse gets smaller Christmas tree because of recession. The recession is downsizing everything ? even South Carolina's Statehouse Christmas tree.

Profit improves at Target, TJX and Saks in 3rd qtr, but trio remains cautious about holiday. Deal-craving shoppers helped a trio of prominent U.S. retailers report Tuesday that their third quarter managed to improve this year.

Health advocacy group finds excessive lead levels in toys with Barbie, Disney name. Children's toys carrying the Barbie and Disney logos have turned up with high levels of lead in them, according to a California-based advocacy group ? a finding that may give consumers pause as they shop for the holiday season.

Wal-Mart confirms some Black Friday deals, adding to hype surrounding holiday shopping kickoff. The official kickoff for the holiday shopping season is more than a week away. But the nation's retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., are already starting to let shoppers know about their fat discounts in hopes of attracting big crowds.

Two Southern California cities have voted to ban the declawing of cats, joining San Francisco and Santa Monica which recently outlawed the practice.

British clothes-to-food retailer Marks and Spencer on Wednesday announced the appointment of supermarket boss Marc Bolland as its new chief executive.