‘Twas the day before Christmas, when all through the mall, last-minute shoppers were desperate for anything they could haul.
At the Seaport’s annual Holiday Market at Snowport, crowds were sparser than usual. On any other day, lines to get inside can wrap around the block. But beneath an overcast sky, shoppers like the Branho brothers — Dave Branho, 28, and his younger brother, Evan, 20, of Braintree — had plenty of elbow room as they browsed for presents or stocking stuffer for their parents with little time to spare.
The silver lining: “They’re not particularly picky people,” said Evan, a Brown student, home for break. “I think they expect a gift card.”
Maybe a shirt for Dad. Maybe a mug for Mom. The brothers eyed a vibrant floral print at artist Mia Whittemore’s stall — something Mom would like.
“I could imagine her putting up one of those,” Evan said.
Throughout Greater Boston, last-minute shoppers braved not only the Christmas Eve cold, but the chilly reality of dilly-dallying: odd store hours, out-of-stock inventory, and limited clothing sizes.
“It’s usually a lot of men, a lot of last-minute men,” said Christine Flynn, store manager for the Fragrance Outlet at Somerville’s Assembly Row.
On normal days, sales associates take time to help customers sample different scents, guiding them through floral versus musk, fruity versus fresh. But on Saturday, men were “grabbing, grabbing, grabby,” Flynn said.
“By 4 or 5 o’clock, they’ll buy anything,” she said.
Allie Warnecke of Roxbury snuck away from her husband while they were shopping at the Snowport to pick up a handcrafted $185 paring knife from Faraway Forge, where owner and self-taught Nantucket blacksmith Keaton Goddard waited on her from behind the counter.
A self-described “bad wife” for not being finished Christmas shopping for husband yet, Warnecke considered buying him a Vermont flannel from another vendor to round out the rest of her gift — a pair of Blundstone boots — “but knives won out.”
“He likes cooking a lot,” she explained.
At the Target store at Everett’s Gateway Center, there were no jingle bells on Sunday morning — just the incessant jangle of stacked red carts being returned through the front door and the scent of gift-buying panic in the air. A steady stream of customers followed the carts, including 41-year-old Donald Mordan of Everett.
Shopping for friends and family, Mordan said with a guilty smile that his last-minute search was “not by design, but by procrastination.”
Exiting Target, Mordan’s shopping cart overflowed with gifts, including candy cane-scented body scrub, wine glasses, Hot Wheels, and a cookware set.
“I walked in for one thing, and I’m leaving with $450 worth of stuff,” Mordan said, realizing he’d become a Target meme.
Across the parking lot, Pedro Oliveira of Chelsea departed the makeup store Ulta with an oversized orange shopping bag. Inside, he said, were perfumes for his daughter, mother, and girlfriend. Ulta was his second stop of the day, and he planned to hit up several more before he would return home.
Oliveira, 32, said he hadn’t been putting his shopping off purposely, he’d just been too busy managing his construction business.
Yes, he admits, shopping on Christmas Eve is not ideal and certainly more stressful, but a man’s gotta shop when a man can shop.
“I don’t care if people think I’m crazy,” he said.
Some had good excuses for their delinquency.
Riley O’Connor, a 20-year-old college student dressed like a Christmas tree, had been away at school, and then needed to make some quick cash working in her aunt’s salon upon returning home for winter break before she could hit the stores.
Jordan Boesch, 27, and his 7-year-old son, Tito, tried to go shopping last weekend, but they got a flat tire on the way to the mall, Boesch said. The two waited in an outdoor line to get into the Pandora jewelry store, where they bought Boesch’s wife a teddy bear charm, which signified his other excuse for being a later shopper — they just had a baby.
“I haven’t had the time to come,” Boesch said.
Tito, meanwhile, didn’t seem to mind the running around. Christmas is also his birthday.
“I get double presents,” he said.
Back at Snowport, Joe Keane of Medford, owner of The Irish Spirit, helped shoppers pick between merino wool sweaters and sterling silver pendants fashioned into Celtic symbols. But he also reminded them that many times the perfect Christmas present isn’t always the most expensive one.
Earlier Sunday morning, a frantic customer looking for a last-minute gift for his traditional Irish grandmother asked Keane for his advice. Keane pointed him away from a pricey necklace and handed him a small St. Brigid’s Cross, made of dried straw and thought to bless and protect the home, for $15.
“‘She doesn’t need that. She needs this’,” Keane said he told the customer, reminding him what really matters on this holiday season. “She wants to see you for Christmas.’”
Mandy McLaren can be reached at mandy.mclaren@globe.com. Follow her @mandy_mclaren. Deanna Pan can be reached at deanna.pan@globe.com. Follow her @DDpan.