NEW YORK People walk through Rockefeller Center a little over a week before Christmas in midtown Manhattan on Dec. 16, 2024, in New York City Sales rose this year during the holiday shopping season even as Americans wrestled with elevated prices for many groceries and other necessities, according to new data. Holiday sales from the beginning of November through Christmas Eve climbed 3.8 percent, outpacing the 3.1 percent increase from a year earlier, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which