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End of days photos by Jim Craven A shopper rides an unpopulated escalator Friday at the Rogue Valley Mall, which opened at 8 a.m. for those who waited until the last minute. To shop, that is, and some make most of Christmas Eve By Dani Dodge of the Mail Tribune Brenda and Gil Gerlach didn't spend weeks wandering stores with glazed eyes and emptying wallets to do their Christmas shopping. They waited until Christmas Eve. Got up early. Hit Target. An hour and a half and $374.85 later, the Central Point couple had crossed off 12 of 14 names from their list and were loading up the pickup parked in a space closest to the door. "I'm doing everything today," Brenda Gerlach, 25, said as they headed for their second and last stop of the shopping season, Costco. "Here's my list. Look, everyone's on it." "We're ready to go home and wrap," Gil Gerlach, 25, said grinning. Shops across the county and at the Rogue Valley Mall were filled Friday with last-minute Christmas shoppers. Some, like the Gerlachs, were doing all their shopping in one fell swoop. Others were picking up last-minute presents after being given gifts they didn't expect. Still others were picking up that last something special. Brenda and Gil Gerlach, of Central Point, load up their truck with gifts after an early-morning trip to Target Friday. Last-minute shopping -- thus avoiding weeks of wandering stores -- is the Gerlachs' strategy for handling the holidays. Truck driver Kal Matthews, 28, made most of his presents this year. He fashions things like hat racks and video holders from horseshoes for gifts. But when it came to his wife of three months, the White City man had to come up with something different. "I've built her picture frames and footstools, and she has a house full of my stuff already," Matthews explained. But buying is always a dilemma for Matthews, who is built like an industrial-sized refrigerator and describes himself as "a bull in a china shop" at the mall. Fortunately, when the couple were in the mall the other day, he'd pointed out the booth where people could make wax molds of their hands holding roses, and she seemed to think that was nice. "She said she liked it so I said `that will work,"' Matthews said. At 6-foot-4, the truck driver towered over the children in line, the artist dipping the hands and even the awning over the small booth set up near the food court. But he waited patiently about an hour for his turn to dip his hand into the wax and make an imprint of his palm cradling a fuchsia-colored rose. Steve DeClerck, 45, of Medford, was also in line with his 9-year-old daughter, Mariann. She was the last of his four children to get their hands holding roses immortalized in wax for their mother. "We thought it could be something special she could keep forever," DeClerck said. Wearing the work clothes he'd had on all week and a sly smile, Ed Baraquin, 49, of the Applegate got to the mall before 8 a.m. Friday. As his daughter, Angelica, 4, played hide-and-seek with the Victoria Secret sales clerk, Baraquin fingered red and black silk lingerie he considered for his wife. The Bureau of Land Management equipment engineer already had bought her a maple armoire, as well as a red silk top with fur collar, Santa hat, robe and Sees candy to fill the drawers. "This is just stocking stuffers today," he said. "And I'm looking for stockings. Red stockings ... Ho ho ho. "You can never buy enough for your wife." Carreen Petach, 39, her husband and son were another family that arrived at the mall early Friday -- but they didn't head for the shops. They went right into the food court. "We've done all our shopping and wrapping," she said, giving her son a hug. "We're here to get cinnamon rolls and watch the last-minute shoppers and laugh. "It's our tradition." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA