By LEONARD GRAY

If you’re anything like me, Christmas shopping is a last-minute, hurry-up, rushed operation. Not helping in this regard is everyone I buy for telling me: “You don’t have to get me anything. I don’t need anything.”

The point, as I remember, of gift-giving is not that you’re giving people what they necessarily need but something they may enjoy.

I enjoy giving gifts. I enjoy the expressions of thanks I hear. I think I’m pretty good at choosing appropriate, tasteful gifts. However, it’s what I go through to get to that point.

Shopping has always been a chore for me. More than anything, I avoid shopping for clothes. As a result, my wardrobe could use some updating – perhaps to the 1990s.

I prefer to have my wife along when I shop for clothing, because she has a better eye than I do as to how I look in shirts and pants and such. Besides, my personal tastes in clothing tend to run to 1970s-era college instead of 2000s-era professional.

Shopping for me is easy. Most guys I know are delighted to receive gift certificates. Wives and girlfriends, on the other hand, prefer a more personal approach. I’m told they agonize just as much to find just the

“right” thing for the receiver.

Well, good luck. My sympathies.

LEONARD GRAY is assistant managing editor of L’Observateur. He can be reached at (985) 652-9545.