SANDY — One of the most stressful parts of Christmas is finding that one gift, the one that is impossible to get until the last minute.
Whether it is because of a lack of time , available cash or simply procrastination, shoppers go out in droves on Christmas Eve looking for that one item.
"Shopping for a friend, literally like last minute," Obed Marrder said. "I only have one gift left to buy and that is pretty good. Usually I am doing all of my shopping right now," he said, as he shopped at South Towne Center mall in Sandy Monday morning.
Some people enjoy the last minute hustle and bustle of shopping the day before Christmas.
Ty Cherry said that he enjoys shopping on Christmas Eve and that he would come back in the afternoon when it was busier.
"I do it every year on Christmas Eve. I love doing it on Christmas Eve, it's not Christmas if I don't," Cherry said. "We'll go home and me and my brother-in-law go out. It's just funny walking around seeing all the other men with those last minute presents for their wives. That is what cracks me up."
For many, the final day will include a purchase of a gift card. Record gift card sales were expected this holiday season, with $110 billion in sales of gift cards expected, according to CEB TowerGroup research. The firm said 85 percent of the U.S. population will exchange gift cards this season.
Cherry said that he enjoys shopping on Christmas Eve because he can get a few last minute gifts and can smuggle them in without his kids or wife finding them before Christmas morning.
"There are people that just start today, isn’t that fun," Kay Carter said. "It is probably going to be a man, I'm guessing. It's kind of fun, it is actually fun right now."
Carter said that she was at the mall because she had failed to pick something up when she was there over the weekend.
While most people were finishing up their holiday shopping Christmas Eve there were a few that were so stressed out they simply refused to talk because they were so tight on time.
Courtney Fabrizio is in from New Mexico for the holidays and said that she had expected more people to be out shopping.
"I just didn't want to pack everything in so I am here getting the last minute gifts for the kids," Fabrizio said. "I thought it was going to be busier and crazy on the streets but it's not that bad yet."
"Last minute shopping," is what brought Rod Murphy and his wife to the mall Monday. "Just a couple little things about four items and we are done," Murphy said.
"I think she goes overboard but I'm glad she looks out for the kids," Murphy said.
He did say that there were more people than he thought there would be at the mall on Christmas Eve.
For Christine and Nichole Triptow a great gift idea for their parents over the weekend brought them to the mall.
"We got an idea yesterday for a present for our parents, so we came to pick it up," Christina Triptow said.
Whatever brought people out to the mall on Monday it all ended when stores closed their doors Monday evening. But only for a day. The post-Christmas sales kick off early on the 26th, including redemtion of those gift cards.
Twitter: @FinleyJY