They Waited, Now They Wait : Last-Minute Yule Shoppers Have Plenty of Company

Next year will be different.

That was the cry of last-minute shoppers throughout the San Fernando Valley on Friday as they stood in lines for baked hams, for haircuts, for Santa and for flocked trees.

“Every year I say it is going to be different,” said a frantic Wanda Kelley of Sherman Oaks as she shopped for table decorations at Pic ‘N’ Save in Northridge.

“I have to still get all the presents, shop for food, get ready, cook,” said Kelley, nervously searching through a stack of paper tablecloths.

“Next year, I start in August.”

Solomon Shauf of Northridge was also doing last-minute shopping Friday--by choice--finding the endless array of goods too tempting to resist.

“Last year we lived on Guam and it was easy. There were not many places to shop,” said Shauf, whose toddler, Justin, was riding in the shopping cart.

They rolled past the Vanna’s Villa Colorform set (“Here’s Vanna in her dream-come-true Mediterranean-style home . . . “) and settled on an Electronic Pulsating Power Laser ray gun.

“Here, there are so many choices,” Shauf said.

Some last-minute tree shoppers headed for the Oregon Family Christmas Tree lot in Woodland Hills. Kari Murray bought a flocked tree for her mother, a Chicago native for whom Christmas isn’t Christmas without snow.

“There’s no snow here, so flocking is the best we can do,” said Murray, who was visiting her parents with her husband, Lee, from their home in suburban New York City.

Another flocked-tree shopper, Kevin Meltcher of Northridge, wanted to surprise his 3-year-old daughter, Chelsea, this morning. His plan was to replace the green tree they’ve already decorated with the flocked tree after Chelsea went to bed--then tell her that a cold-stricken Santa had sneezed on it.

“She’s actually very into the whole (Christmas) thing,” Meltcher said.

So was 4-year-old Christina Spencer, who was standing in line to see Santa at Northridge Fashion Center. “Someone woke up this morning and let us know that she had not told Santa Claus what she wanted for Christmas,” said her grandmother, Betsy Welsh.

Christina, who was clinging to her grandmother’s leg, said shyly that she was going to ask Santa for a toy called Flounder. “It’s a fish,” she explained, unhelpfully.

Some families turned mundane errands into pleasant traditions.

Robert Younkin and his three children--Robert Jr., 14, Jaclyn, 11, and Loretta, 8--got their hair cut and styled together at a Supercuts shop so they could look their best and spend some time together.

“We like to dress for the holidays,” said Younkin, who lives in Chatsworth.

At Trader Joe’s in Encino, Greg Dato of Canoga Park picked up ready-made appetizers like Brie and bean dip on the way to his parents’ home in Palos Verdes.

“I’m the hors d’oeuvres man tonight,” said Dato, who is single and not much of a cook. “This is about the only thing I’m capable of doing,” he said with a laugh.

Eva Zaleska, clad entirely in bright red, bought eggnog for herself and peanut butter treats for her dog.

“I like red at all times, and now nobody minds,” said Zaleska, who wore red woolen leggings and ankle boots, a bulky red sweater and a stylish red hat.

Meanwhile, the post office in Van Nuys was so quiet that good-natured clerks chatted casually with the handful of customers and offered to help them pack their gifts. Open from 8:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. Friday, the post office was virtually empty at midday.

Michael Carney was there with his 6-year-old daughter, Michelle, to send a “golf-aholics anonymous” hand towel with matching tees to his brother in New Mexico. He had sent presents earlier, but the golf rag was an extra ditty Carney saw and couldn’t resist.

“God, I just hate doing this last-minute stuff,” he said.

Waiting in line for a HoneyBaked ham only gave Charles Overton time to worry about the toys he still had to assemble.

“Oh, God, I’m going to be up all night putting together a castle,” said Overton, a Sherman Oaks resident with children ages 4 and 2. “It’s amazing how they put those instructions together: ‘A fits into B’--but it never does.”

Nearby, newlyweds Earl and Renee Peoples were spinning their wheels with confusion and excitement over their first Christmas together. The couple, who live in Altadena, drove all the way to Woodland Hills to buy a ham because they didn’t realize HoneyBaked was a chain operation.

“It was a nice ride--we’re spending quality time together,” she said.

It was a good day to be in the ham business--the HoneyBaked store in Northridge also had a line spilling out the door. “I had no idea there would be a line here,” said Helen Pelt of Chatsworth.