The first person I spoke to when I got in to work this morning had an interesting question for me about Christmas shopping.

He knew I was had written a story — to run tomorrow in the paper and here on LoHud.com — about places that are ideal stops for last-minute Christmas shopping.

It’s a sampling of 10 shops in our three counties of coverage, places where you can go in — through Monday, Christmas Eve — and come out with something for most anyone on your list. They are not in malls. You have a wealth of choices. And best yet, those offerings are so unique that the recipient could never guess it was anything less than a well-planned purchase.

So, admitting he was a last-minute shopper, my friend and colleague wanted to know — simply — “How do you know when it’s enough?�

Wow.

I have to admit that the only answer I came up with is “You just know.� I even tried the old routine about it’s not what you buy but the thought behind it, so don’t feel the need to get “more and more and more.�

No help, right?

This year, I picked up my last item on Tuesday night. Whew. Done. And truly, I haven’t felt the need to rush out for more “extras.�

In years past, I have had that sense that I didn’t do “enough.� I needed to add on, pick up a few more things to round out the presentations, especially when it came to family and closest friends.

This year, I think maybe I just shopped a bit more carefully. I thought more about what I wanted for each person instead of having no clear idea and just grabbing item after item that caught my eye.

And yes, since I’m a year-round shopper (as you well know), I was picking up gifts months ago, things I saw in shops I didn’t expect to get back to — when I was on vacation, for example, or at a fair or an antiques show.

I know there’s that excitement and adrenaline rush of doing things on deadline. I was talking someone else the other night who said he hadn’t even started his shopping, that he indeed needed that “pressure.�

I guess these last-minute guys will have plenty of company out there this weekend.

Check out tomorrow’s story if you need to pick some things up.

I’m taking Monday off, so I’ll be back here on Wednesday morning, right after my traditional Dec. 26 stop at The Container Store to snag some great “after-Christmas� buys from the Gift Wrap Wonderland.