Christmas, that magical time of the year when thoughts turn to peace on earth and spending time with loved ones, is apparently a big hit with thieves.

The National Retail Federation estimates that U.S. retailers will lose $3.5 billion to fraudulent returns this holiday season. The most popular crime is returning stolen goods for a refund.

But if you were thinking of taking back that dress you bought and wore once, that counts too.

Okay, so their jobs really do depend on it, but two-thirds of the retail chief marketing officers surveyed by consulting firm BDO Seidman LLP think U.S. holiday sales will be higher this year.

The inaugural “Retail Compass” survey of 114 chief marketing officers at retailers with more than $100 million in annual revenues found that only two percent expected holiday sales to fall from a year earlier. Overall, the marketing execs, on average, expect a holiday sales increase of 7.8 percent, which is more ambitious than the 5 percent gain forecast by the National Retail Federation trade group.

Among the top 100 largest retailers, some 80 percent of marketing executives predicted higher holiday sales, with an average growth rate of 9.3 percent.

The survey, conducted in the last week of October, found that marketing executives’ biggest concern was energy costs, followed by rising interest rates and the slowing housing market:

Despite several forecasts to the contrary, the senior marketing leaders of US retailers have high hopes for the holidays, Douglas Hart, a partner in BDO Seidmans Retail and Consumer Products practice, said in a statement. However, given their concern about the impact of energy costs on consumer buying, a spike in oil and gas prices in the near term could adversely affect these lofty expectations.”

Ever wonder how Wal-Mart shoppers are spending the money they save with cut-price $4 generic prescriptions? Apparently, some of them are eating fast food.

When Wal-Mart announced that it was expanding its $4 drug program to an additional 12 states on Thursday, it shared this heart-warming anecdote:

“In Texas, when a woman was told that the prescriptions were $4 apiece, she became fearful that one of our associates was trying to be overly kind and help her pay for them. So she said that she could not accept the prescriptions because she did not want the cashier to be fired. When the pharmacist convinced her otherwise, she exclaimed — with tears in her eyes — that she was going out to celebrate by having a Whataburger(R) for supper,” said Bill Simon, executive vice president of Wal-Mart’s Professional Services Division. ”You see, she hadn’t been able to treat herself to this indulgence for nearly a year because she was on such a tight budget. We take great pride in knowing that this program is making a real difference in our customers’ lives.”

For those harried parents seeking peace on earth — or at least in the grocery store — this holiday season, a New Zealand company called Cabco has just the thing. Shopping carts that show cartoons. A godsend for parents, or another step toward the destruction of U.S. civilization?

Here’s what Lori Borgman of McClatchy Newspapers had to say about it:

Children are now able to watch television from the comfort of home, in the car on the way to the grocery store, while at the grocery store, in the car on the way home from the grocery store, and once again when finally back at home. If you could rig a pulley from the refrigerator to the living room, the little darlings might never have reason to leave a sitting position.

So, what do you think? is this a useful distraction so parents can get their shopping done more quickly? Or another unnecessary intrustion of TV into children’s lives?

When Wal-Mart told Reuters that it was doubling its offerings of organic food, it set off a debate over how the world’s biggest retailer would impact farming. Traditional grocery stores have also jumped in with wider selections of oganics. Now comes word from Advertising Age that the strategy may not be paying off because consumers are balking at high prices.

You tell us — are you buying organic food? Is it worth the price? And do you trust organic foods from major manufacturers and mass retailers?

    Couldn’t find the perfect million-dollar holiday gift in the legendary Neiman Marcus Christmas Book? Try Wal-Mart.
    The world’s biggest retailer, best known for selling everything cheap, said on Friday that its Sam’s Club warehouse stores would offer “once-in-a-lifetime” gifts including a $2.7 million Cessna Citation Mustang jet.
    Cessna calls the plane a “breakthrough combination of power, speed and true jet affordability”, capable of speeds up to 391 miles per hour and altitudes of 41,000 feet.
    Other special Sam’s Club offers include four Super Bowl tickets, complete with an invite to football legend Dan Marino’s VIP reception, and a trip to London for an evening with singer Tony Bennett.
    This is the third year that Sam’s Club has offered such lavish holiday gifts. In previous years, items have included a $198,000 custom-designed 1969 HP Camaro, and a trip to the National Football League’s Pro Bowl all-star game in Hawaii.
    There is a catch, however. Not only do you have to be rich, you also have to be a Sam’s Club member.

First they demoted poor Smiley. Now the marketing gurus at Wal-Mart have found some new friends: Wally and Marty, a pair of “renegade elves” who have apparently ditched their duties at the North Pole to form their own toy business.

“Wally & Marty are Wal-Mart’s ‘guardians of amazing toys’,” the retailer says. They have their own Web site, where they exchange such witticisms as, “What do you call a four-wheeled bike? Awesome!”

The two elves — Marty sounds like he’s from the U.S., while probably Wally calls somewhere in England home — spend much of their time encouraging kids to create a toy wish list on the Web site. They also find time for some toy-inspired poems (Emily Dickinson it ain’t!) and one of them seems quite smitten with this year’s Barbie offering.

Kids can choose which toys to add to their wish list that they can then e-mail to grandma.

Still to come — television and movie ads, and their own comic book. Yes, really.

A survey commissioned by the Toy Industry Association found that 81 percent of kids ages 5 to 12 play with toys every week.

So what will those lucky 81 percent be unwrapping this Christmas? Well, if their parents couldn’t score a T.M.X. Elmo, it might be the Biggest Littlest Pet Shop, which topped FamilyFun Magazine’s 15th annual Toy of the Year top 10 list, based on thousands of hours of play by more than 1,300 kid testers.

Instead of getting fresh air and exercise walking the real family pooch, kids can put a plastic dog on an exercise wheel or in a tower that spins the pets around. Fortunately, a toy bathtub is included in case Fido gets a bit too dizzy….

The magazine conducted its kid surveys in July and August, before T.M.X. Elmo was released in September, so the popular toy didn’t make the list. Judging from the eBay bids for an unopened Elmo toy, it may be the parents who are getting played.