Last Minute Holiday Gift Guide	Make a List, Check It Twice

Well, it’s too late to order books from Amazon, too late to order flannel shirts from L.L. Bean. Too late, probably, to special-order a pair of your grandfather’s orthopedic, double-wide shoes.

If you’ve waited this long to begin your Christmas shopping, you’re busy indeed. Or maybe irresponsible, or a curmudgeon, or disorganized. Or possibly an adrenaline junkie. Whichever—you need a plan, because the scheme off of which you’re working isn’t getting the job done. This is no time to stay the course.

Here’s what we at Artvoice propose: Get out a piece of old-fashioned notebook paper. (Your new digital lifestyle won’t help you here. You’ll need to carry this sheet of paper with you in your pocket or your purse. Paper doesn’t run out of batteries.) Write down everyone for whom you know you must buy a gift: loved ones, coworkers, mail deliverers, et alia. Then flip through these pages. We guarantee there’s a suitable gift for everyone on the list you’ve just made—a book, a CD, a ticket to a show, a bottle of wine, a pair of socks or earrings or what have you.

If there’s nothing in those pages, get a gift certificate for—who knows?—a massage (The Massage Studio, 181 Allen Street, is supposed to be nice, but check our advertisers for other great day spas) or even a tattoo (RedHouse Tattoo, 4748 Broadway in Depew, was voted Best in Buffalo 2006 by AV readers, but there are plenty of other options—again, check our advertisers). Or maybe make a little time and buy your loved one one last drink at the Park Lane before it closes forever in the new year. Make a charitable donation in your loved one’s name. Draw a picture, plant bulbs in their yard before the ground freezes.

Do something. (We don’t mean to scold—here at AV we’re ace procrastinators too—but come on.) Make a list and start working your way through it. Tick-tock.