Getting it done at the last minute

Last week, John and Dee Fischer thought they were done with Christmas shopping and wouldn’t have to go out during the last-minute dash to get presents.

They were wrong.

They were wrapping presents for their three children — two boys, 8 and 12, and a girl, 9, and they noticed a problem.

“When we were wrapping, we realized it was a little uneven,” Dee Fischer said.

Seeing that they had more for their eldest kids, the husband and wife decided to brave traffic and crowds Friday to go to the North Main Street Walmart and pick up a new bike and a monster truck for their 8-year-old.

“We usually don’t come out this close to Christmas,” John Fischer said.

“I usually get most of the shopping done on Black Friday or before,” Dee Fischer said.

After loading the gifts in their truck, the couple was done with their shopping and didn’t plan on going out again before Sunday.

“This is it,” Dee Fischer said.

Other last minute shoppers were not as lucky. Ashlee Bockelman was just getting started on her shopping at the Kohl’s in Harbour View East shopping center on Friday.

“I didn’t have time to do any shopping before,” she said. “I did a little bit online last week, but pretty much, I’m doing most of it today.”

Bockelman said she left home early in the morning to try to beat some of the crowds.

She said she had a successful trip at Kohl’s, but she still had to visit PetSmart, Walgreens and Walmart.

“I’m dreading that one,” she said. “I’m crossing my fingers that I don’t have to go anywhere after 1 p.m. today.”

In addition to the customers getting all their shopping done just days before the holiday, some people ventured out for last-minute deals.

Donald Hurda and his son-in-law Mark Gizara visited the North Suffolk Walmart to take advantage of a half-off sale on a ladder stand for hunting.

Hurda, who is visiting from Halifax, said he wanted to come out because the Walmart in his city was out of the stands.

“It just happened to be close to Christmas,” Gizara said.

Both men said they have been done with their Christmas shopping since last week, and they made sure to make it out to the store on Friday before noon.

“There aren’t as many crowds — not this time of day,” Gizara said.

Cindy Lang, who made a stop at Kohl’s to pick up some extra gifts for her daughter, said the key to shopping close to Christmas is “having a plan of action.”

“I came out early, and I have a list,” she said.

While being out with the masses isn’t thrilling for some, Cherri Wilson is used to shopping so close to Christmas.

She was at the North Suffolk Walmart Friday picking up extra wrapping paper and buying groceries for the Christmas Eve party she is hosting.

“I’m usually a last-minute shopper,” she said. “I’m a people person, and I love Christmas; all this is just part of it.”

She added, “I just try to keep my mind right.”