(Reuters) – U.S. holiday sales are expected to rise at a slower pace this year, a trade group said on Thursday, at a time when decades-high inflation has left Americans struggling to pay bills, draining some of the Christmas cheer from households. The National Retail Federation (NRF) forecast holiday sales, including e-commerce and non-store sales, to rise between 6% and 8% to between $942.6 billion and $960.4 billion during November and December. That compares to a 13.5% jump reported last year, and a 9.3% rise seen in 2020. Part of the slowdown in the last two months of the year also stem fr…