It had the makings of a nightmare before Christmas: a snowstorm that wrecked the last big shopping weekend of the holiday calendar. Holiday travelers lost in a tangle of flight cancellations. Delivery people fighting ice and snow. Zhu Zhu Pets tragically left homeless.

So as winter arrived yesterday, people along the East Coast set out on slick sidewalks and roads to do the shopping they had hoped to finish over the weekend, did battle with airport lines and crossed their fingers that they weren't too late to order online.

This holiday, the shortest day of the year was also the most frantic.

Take Helen Pease. On Saturday, she left her house in Southampton, N.J., at 7 a.m., armed with a gift list 20 names long and even a schedule of which stores to hit when. Thanks to the snowstorm that ravaged the East Coast, all she came home with was comfort food.

Her solution: She split up her last vacation day of the year, using half yesterday and half today, to get all her shopping done. She stopped at the American Eagle in Moorestown Mall to buy for her nephew.

STRESSES PILE UP

That's the way it's gone in a holiday season best described as star-crossed. From the beginning, there was the feeble economy. By the end, there was even a fire at Macy's flagship store in New York's Herald Square and video of a Washington cop pulling a gun at a snowball fight.

And then there was the winter storm, which dumped 16 inches of snow on Washington and nearly 2 feet on Philadelphia. It rendered a day chain stores call Super Saturday — the last big shopping day before Christmas — decidedly less super.

For retailers, there was an upside: Many of those snowed in took to their computers to check off their lists. Online sales Friday and Saturday were about one-quarter higher than last year.

And stores tried to take some pressure off the shortened shopping calendar. Amazon extended its standard-shipping cutoff for Christmas delivery by a day. Macy's offered free shipping through yesterday, J.C. Penney through today, for online purchases.

DELIVERY WOES

Of course, the online option had its problems, too.

Joe Scialabba, a 20-year veteran driver for FedEx, spent yesterday trying to navigate his truck around snow drifts that made his route on Long Island an obstacle course.

"It's a bonus today if they get their package. That's my motto," he said. "All your little shortcuts are gone. You got to go up the driveway, some of these driveways are 300 feet."

Yesterday was already expected to be the busiest day of the year for UPS. A spokesman said the company would have "all hands on deck" but expected some trucks would have problems reaching places not yet fully plowed.

By the time the snow stopped on Sunday in New York, there were other elements to worry about. Hundreds of shoppers had to be evacuated from Macy's in Herald Square after a fire in an escalator. Macy's said it would stay open 24 hours a day, from yesterday through Christmas Eve.

AIRPORT CROWDS

At the airports, some of the misery of the weekend had lifted, but there were still long lines and busy booking agents in many cities.

In Washington, Molly Fasterling's first try at a flight to St. Louis was canceled, and she missed the second while waiting to check in. She was hoping to fly standby eventually.

"We're hoping everyone else is going to miss their flight, too, and we can take their seats," she said. "We're scavengers."

Delta Air Lines added 6,500 seats yesterday to try to clear out its passenger backlog. United added 16 flights, including a 757 to get 182 people from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles.

It generally takes airlines three days to get people where they're going after one day of major cancellations, said Lance Sherry, an associate professor who studies airline delays at George Mason University. He expects this one to take more like five.

In the meantime, those lucky enough not to be stuck in a terminal raced the clock to finish their shopping.

"I'm so tired of holding bags," said Donnetta Jones, who emerged from a Macy's in Philadelphia loaded down with gifts.