The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that while shoppers appeared to be out in full force in the days leading up to and right after Christmas, it will be another two months before Statistics Canada releases the official tally of retail sales for December. The Globe's Jason Kirby writes that if recent months are any indication, the news could be good. Retail sales have painted a somewhat misleading picture over the last couple of years. While reported monthly sales numbers have generally marched higher, that has largely been because inflation was pushing up prices of the stuff people were buying. When retail sales are adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, retail sales suffered a prolonged slump. That has changed since the summer, as interest rates eased and consumers increased spending, pushing up retail sales in both nominal and inflation-adjusted terms. The pattern has played out on both sides of the border, though Canada has lagged the U.S. rebound, with American consumers continuing to surprise economists with their resiliency. The picture in Canada is cloudier. Before the chaos of the four-week Canada Post strike, things had been looking up for the country's retailers this season.