> He always started the New Year with the hope that business would be better and the money would roll in, but it didn't really happen until Christmas.

That's the nature of the retail world. I worked in retail advertising for five years, and heard the same thing over and over again. "We're doing okay, but it could be better," from January through the third week of November. Then comes black Friday and the rest of the holiday shopping season, and "we're made in the shade."

If we didn't have a good December, we didn't have a good year. Period.