There is something timeless about the holiday ritual of picking out a present for a wife, a dad, or a neighbor. For patriots, gift giving is not a consumerist trap but a way to celebrate family, faith, and the traditions that bind communities together. This season’s small joys — a thoughtful gift, a crowded main street, a smiling shopkeeper — are worth defending.
Americans gave cautiously but they still opened their wallets this year, with card networks reporting modest growth in holiday retail spending from early November through December 21, 2025. That 3.9–4.2 percent rise shows shoppers are trying to balance budgets in an uncertain economy while still making the season merry for their families.
But convenience comes with a cost when our retail giants and their tech systems stumble at the worst possible moment, as a major outage crippled a national chain’s app and website during the crucial final shopping days. When Americans can’t rely on corporate platforms to deliver on promises, it’s ordinary families who lose sleep and scramble to replace hoped-for gifts.
Online shopping has become the default for millions, and with that surge comes a predictable rise in porch pirates and fraudsters preying on good neighbors. Reports of package theft and rising scam activity show that shopping from home is only as safe as the security around it, and many hardworking families are paying the price.
Frontline retail workers are bearing the brunt of a law-and-order vacuum as organized retail crime becomes more sophisticated and violent heading into the holidays. Retailers and researchers warn that shoplifting rings and coordinated online scams are getting smarter, leaving employees feeling less safe and pushing stores to adopt awkward security measures that spoil the shopping experience.
We are also seeing the darker, high-tech side of holiday shopping: automated bots, refund scams, and cyber fraud that exploit busy seasons and stretched defenses. Industry groups warned months ago that fraud and generative-AI-driven attacks would surge during peak shopping windows, and that prediction has proven prophetic.
Washington’s trade fiddling and tariff uncertainty have only made things tougher, squeezing budgets and making shoppers delay purchases while they wait to see which way prices will move. Families shouldn’t have to play guessing games about tariffs while trying to provide for their kids, yet that is today’s reality thanks to policy choices that put political theater ahead of economic stability.
Conservative commonsense offers real solutions: support your local small businesses, shop early, use secure pickup or in-person transactions when possible, and pressure both retailers and elected officials to secure supply chains and crack down on organized retail crime. Demand accountability from corporate executives who promise convenience but deliver chaos, and from politicians who ignore border security and let criminals and tariffs drive up costs for American families.
This season, don’t let the disruptions steal your sense of gratitude and duty to one another. Celebrate the American virtues of charity, hard work, and community, and keep fighting for safer streets, honest commerce, and leaders who put everyday families first.
