TORONTO -- Bartender Kathleen Shattock isn't pouring money into Christmas this year.

She's not one of the horde of shoppers serving up what is expected to be a slightly better holiday bonus for retailers compared to last year.

Cash short after laser eye surgery, Shattock, 31, whipped up her own gifts -- cookies, Irish Cream and coffee liqueurs.

But she did treat herself yesterday with a $120 "awesome" pair of boots to replace her worn-out pair.

"I didn't do any Christmas shopping except for this," Shattock said.

The busiest pre-Yule shopping day is traditionally the Saturday before Christmas, "and I wouldn't see any change in that pattern," John Torella, senior partner in the global retail consulting firm J.C. Williams Group, said from his Toronto office.

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Merchant sales are expected to hit $33.6 billion -- a 2% jump over last year -- in the period six weeks before and one week after Dec. 25.

The hottest items are electronics, high-def TVs and other technology, he said. Auto sales are pumped "but no pattern is emerging."

"Canadian consumers continue to be value-focused and there is fierce competition among retailers," said Mark Beazley, of the Retail Council of Canada.

The battle for shoppers' bucks has led many merchants to discount goods "a lot earlier," he said.

"We're seeing signs of economic recovery here in Canada and a modest rise in consumer confidence."

So what can a "Santa" give?

"I don't need anything," Alejandro Santa Maria Jr., 16, said from his Dundas St. W. home. "Everything is set."

There'll be Christmas dinner with family and friends and calls to grandparents in Argentina "if we can get through."

As for a gift, "maybe new soccer shoes, or winter ones."