With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, we all feel our mouths watering, our work becoming more tedious, and our stress levels rising. It's a holiday of togetherness: we gather with our families to eat, catch up, and enjoy each other's company. Despite the positive and festive atmosphere this holiday brings, the pressure of upcoming finals and forced family time can sometimes be overwhelming. Here are the stages we college kids will go through during this week off.

1. Excitement

Call all your friends from home and plan your reunion.

2. Logistics

Plan out every hour of everyday, aka how you're going to get to spend time with everyone in between naps and multiple loads of laundry.

3. Take a breath

You're finally home. Sit on the couch and don't move. You've earned this.

4. Rapidly set up decorations and clean your house

Your mother and father are panicking because family's coming and the dog just ate the couch again.

5. Rehearse your life plan

Everyone wants to know if you're dating someone, if you've cured cancer, and how your best friend is doing, so try to pretend like your life is not currently in shambles.

6. Be hugged by everyone in your family

Pretty soon you'll smell like a mix of strong flower based perfume and your middle school cousin's axe body spray. Try to save the most odiferous hugs for last.

7. Quickly try to pick a team

Everyone's raging over football. Make sure you whip out your phone before the game and look up who's playing and at least try to know the quarterback of each team. Even minimal knowledge will earn you 'cool' points that you can cash in later when everyone remembers how much of a dork you are.

8. Desperately try to enjoy small talk

Relatives are the people who you only see a few times a year, and they want to make up for this by chatting for hours on end about every aspect of everything. They can be boring, and explaining the same things over and over again can get repetitive, but do your best not to retreat from the festivities early.

9. Stuff your face

The best meal of the year is here -- let nothing get in your way.

10. Sleep eternally

It's inevitable, just embrace the drowsiness.

11. Remember your upcoming finals

Panic and rethink your schedule. There are never enough hours in the day.

12. Scramble to regain focus

Going back to school always comes sooner than you expect and finals are a week away.