1. It's Thanksgiving weekend all over again.

Kohl's is opening at 5 a.m. today, J.C. Penney at 6 a.m. and Macy's at 7 a.m. Sunday, Toys R Us opens at 6 a.m. Back are the $10 cash coupons, $15 to $50 Wow passes, gift cards with purchase and an extra 15 percent to 30 percent off everything.

"Yes, we mean everything," says the Kohl's ad.

You know the drill.

Today is expected to be one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Stores are counting on lots of last-minute spending in the final six days before Christmas.

"Expect retailers to up the discounts to 50 percent and even 60 percent on some overstocked categories," said Marshal Cohen, NPD Group's chief industry analyst. Heading into the weekend, 84 percent of shoppers surveyed by NPD still have shopping left to do, and almost half said they haven't even started.

The promotions won't stop right away, either.

Dec. 26 – the Saturday after Christmas – is viewed as another huge marketing opportunity. Nordstrom has already mailed customers notices about its men's sale that day. Macy's will open at 6 a.m., and Penney stores will be set up with spring merchandise in the juniors department for the second consecutive year. The thinking is that teens don't want clearance. They're ready to spend their Christmas money and gift cards on new stuff.

Last year, the week after Christmas was like "a second Christmas season, almost a separate event," said Mike Boylson, Penney's chief marketing officer.

Books are a huge holiday business.

I'm not saying anyone is getting a $200 to $300 e-reader at my house, but I know that a few million Kindles, Nooks and Sony Readers are forecast to be sold this year. (Citigroup said this week that Amazon.com will sell 2 million Kindle e-readers this year, up from a previous forecast of 1.5 million.)

Sooner or later, we'll all need to learn how to give an e-book. Can't just wrap it, stick on a bow and hand it over. So I asked Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble to give me a primer.

The most efficient way is to give specially created gift cards.

Barnes & Noble created the "eBooks" gift card sold in amounts from $10 to $250. The plastic gift card is attached to another card with your personal message, such as: "I hope you will download Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. It really shaped my views about a lot of things when I was your age. Love ya, Aunt Mia."

So while you can share your treasured titles as hopes that they'll be read, your nephew may turn around and buy whatever he wants. (I don't like the fact that he won't at least pick up the book, open the pages and try it.)

Amazon.com also allows you to customize your Kindle gift card. The recipient registers the gift card online and can start spending it.

Actually, both work similarly to iTunes.

Now if you're a rich aunt buying the e-reader, you can load it with your favorite titles when the account is set up and registered.

I just checked the price of The Jungle on Amazon.com. It's free, and so are thousands of other old titles.

The "untimely opening" of a new shopping center is working out just fine, says Allen's Watters Creek developer Terry Montesi. "We're staying scared and working hard. But as people discover Watters Creek, they like it."

This is the second Christmas season for the urban-designed shopping center in suburbia. It opened in October 2008, just as consumers stopped spending. Today, the center located on Central Expressway and Bethany Drive is 85 percent leased with 54 stores and restaurants vs. 32 last year.

A majority of the stores that opened last year are posting double-digit sales increases this Christmas, he said.

The retail lineup, which includes Sephora, Cheesecake Factory, Luke's Locker and "value-oriented" boutiques such as accessories shops Charming Charlies and Madison Envy, is making it a destination, said Montesi, founding partner of Fort Worth-based Trademark Property Co.

The Vera Bradley store is already paying a percentage of sales as rent. Last Saturday, the luggage and accessories store had a constant line at the register.

Watters Creek's $2 million creek system, pond and landscaping create an atmosphere different from other retail centers. Offices and apartments above the stores are 65 percent and 80 percent leased, he said.

To complete the urban feel, the center has parking meters, but they're totally voluntary. The funds go to the Susan G. Komen For the Cure, which raises money for breast cancer research.

And a snow machine delivers the white stuff on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in December (except Christmas day) between 6 and 8 p.m.

There's a lot of cause marketing this time of year.

Dallas-based Half Price Books' cause is helping the polar bear, whose population is declining. Stores are selling festive totes featuring the North Pole inhabitant for $1.98 and notecards made from 100 percent recycled paper for $4.98.

The World Wildlife Fund receives $1 with each purchase.