Hey, even Santa waits until Christmas Eve to get his gifts finished.

So it should be no surprise that even people who aren’t in the profession of gift-giving sometimes run a little late, as well.

“It’s been very busy, very steady,” said Carol Carlson, assistant store manager at Belk’s in downtown. “Very busy, and it’s been this way for well over a week.”

Such busyness is to be expected, according to research released last week from the National Retail Federation.

According to an NRF survey, 20.5 percent of people still hadn’t begun their holiday shopping as of Dec. 19. The survey also found that the average holiday shopper still had more than a third of his shopping list remaining, with less than a week remaining until Christmas.

The survey named men and young people as the biggest procrastinators of all during the holiday season. In fact, nearly a quarter of the men surveyed and an equal percentage of 18- to 34-year-olds said they had not yet begun their shopping.

Less than a third of those surveyed said they were completely finished with their shopping by Dec. 19.

That is a trend retailers in Suffolk say they have seen a lot of the past couple of days.

“This last week we’ve been busy, busy, busy,” said Kathy Flythe, owner of Katody’s in North Suffolk. “Especially the men, the guys. I think it’s just men waiting until the last minute. And a lot of them do say, ‘I know I can get her something here, so I just didn’t worry about it.’”

Carlson said she, too, had seen a lot of men trying to get the last-minute gifts during the past few days.

“Some are just trying to finish up their shopping, and some of the gentlemen are just trying to get theirs done because they’ve procrastinated until now,” she said.

Carlson added there hasn’t been one go-to-gift item this year; all shoppers (male and female alike) have been all over the place this year.

“It’s just about anything really,” she said. “It hasn’t been anything, any one idea. People have been getting anything from fragrances to clothes.”

Carlson and Flythe said they both were expecting another rush throughout the day today and have been preparing for it. Flythe said she is ready for even a post-holiday rush.

“People can still get a treat for themselves after a holiday too.”