Thanksgiving has creeped up on us and Christmas is about a month away. Hell, stores have been playing "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" since Halloween. You’re seeing someone and it’s probably getting pretty serious, especially if you clicked on this article. So now you have to think about the struggles of introducing them to your crazy dad, that aunt that drinks too much and the smothering love of your grandma—who’s already pushing you to get hitched.

But here we go, yay holidays! Here are the five struggles we all go through when bringing your SO home for the holidays.

1. Traveling

For some, this isn’t an issue but if you met your SO at college and they live in a different state, this could be an issue. Or even say, if your family meets at a relative’s house near Boston and you’re a few hours away, the hike up there for you might be difficult—the drive for your SO might be even worse. And the worst of it all might even be carpooling. For years, whenever I travel to a relative’s house on the holidays, I carpool with my mom, my Meme and my Papa and if I brought my SO—I assume he’d be along for the ride. And in this case, prepare for the Dean Martin Christmas playlist on repeat and the embarrassing stories to begin right away. Add the fact that we’re Italian so a little road-rage is always encouraged… and also inevitable.

2. Sharing Time Between Families

You guys might have this perfect itinerary all planned out—“OK, so we’ll have cocktails at your Auntie Shar’s house, dinner at my mom’s and then dessert at your dad’s.” Well, be realistic, this plan almost never works out.

And some family members are going to get a little annoyed when you don’t show up at the time you allotted for them. Especially dessert at your dad's when you know that grandma is going to make you re-eat dinner because she cooked her famous ham and your new SO cannot miss out on this experience.

*SIdenote: It's OK and totally not worth the fight if too must time is spent in one location and not at another-- just make it up to that relative during Christmas time or New Years, don't stress the small stuff! Your family loves you, no matter what!

3. The Actual Meeting Experience

I can’t speak for anyone else but my family is pretty crazy and pretty intense actually. There’s too many auntie and uncles and cousins to remember. On my dad’s side the uncles usually get a kick out of humiliating the boyfriends as much as possible. My family especially loves to use the famous line: "You hurt her, I hurt you. You make her cry, I make you cry, capiche?"

It used to be tradition to give the new boyfriends the “Pioggia handshake” which usually resulted in the said-boyfriend lying on the ground in shock at what just took place—but don’t worry, this tradition has been put to rest… after an expensive hospital visit, or two.

I assume other families—normal ones, aren’t this extreme but hey, ya never know! Point being, is that meeting each other’s family can be awkward, especially for the first time and the whirlpool of questions that usually follow. Some might be an interrogation but some could just being relatives trying to get acquainted with your SO.

4. “The Crazy Aunt”

It doesn’t have to be an aunt—it’s just an expression. But we all have one, that crazy relative, who we love to death but they’re just an acquired taste. That “crazy aunt” might have too much to drink—hidden away in her flask—and fall asleep at the Thanksgiving table. Or that “crazy aunt” might call your SO the name of your ex (from three years ago) all night long. Regardless, we all have this one crazy relative and we love them to death and if they’re too much to handle for your SO, well then maybe they just aren’t the one.

5. The Embarrassing Stories

Now most families just probably tell the “remember when you were little and (cue in the embarrassing story about you announcing that you’re peeing in the public pool while other families swam away from you as quickly as possible)” story. And those are just traumatizing for anyone. They’ll make you become red in the face and you’ll probably curse that family member under your breath for even bringing it up.

Then it usually becomes a game of who can embarrass each other the most. And usually everyone is cracking up and your SO will forever haunt you with these stories.

Believe it or not though… for some of us this experience is worse. YUP, I said it. WORSE, you may ask.

Imagine all your childhood stories in videos instead. My family is notorious for the home videos so you can’t even deny these embarrassing tales about your childhood. And even though you’ve probably seen every video countless times, they still continue to play them at every family function. So the best thing to do in this case, is just own up to it because they do not hesitate to pull out any home video and humiliate. And just to set the record straight—the peeing in the public pool story wasn’t me but that did actually happen for someone in my family and yes, we do have it on video.

The holidays are supposed to be fun, so stop stressing about bringing your SO home for the holidays, if they love you, I’m sure they’ll love your crazy family just as much! And hey, if times really do get that stressful—just ask that crazy aunt for a swig of her “special juice.”