Hello, my friends. Finals season is upon us. The familiar days full of carpal tunnel from typing pages upon pages of essays, gallons of coffee consumed, and merely minutes of sleep to be had. Since we have the holiday season to look forward to as a reward for enduring the next couple of weeks, here’s finals week as told by your favorite, and possibly tallest, employee of Santa’s workshop, Buddy the Elf.

1. "You sit on a throne of lies!"

When your professor tells you that the final will be “short” and “not hard.” Yeah, OK, Amy, you also have the answer key so forgive me for not completely trusting you on that one.

2. "I am a cotton-headed ninny muggins."

When you’re studying for your finals and realize you’ve retained next to absolutely nothing from the past semester. Awesome.

3. "I’m sorry I ruined your lives and crammed 11 cookies into the VCR."

When your roommates come home and you’ve recently finished a studying induced panic attack that ended with you eating all the snacks in the dorm. So in this case, the VCR is your mouth. You crammed the 11 cookies into your mouth. Nice. Keep thriving.

4. "Son of a Nutcracker!"

Honestly, this is finals season in a nutshell. Especially applicable for when you realize you have approximately 90 projects, papers, and tests that will take place sometime within the next two weeks. I’m so fine. It’s fine.

5. "You did it! Congratulations! World's best cup of coffee! Great job, everybody! It's great to be here."

When you’re just feeling really grateful to Starbucks for sponsoring your Winter Finals Season by getting you through those late night study sessions and also just for keeping you alive at this point. Thanks, Starbs. We all owe you.

6. "Does somebody need a hug?"

When you see a fellow victim of finals season. We’re all in this together.

7. "This place reminds me of Santa's workshop…except it smells like mushrooms and everyone looks like they want to hurt me."

Walking into your lecture halls full of hangry students running on four hours of sleep over the past week feels a lot like this.

8. "So good news… I saw a dog today."

Some days, seeing a dog is all you can say for yourself. At least it’s something. If we’re being honest, seeing a dog is still the highlight of my day during a good week. Always look on the bright side of life.

9. "Sounds like somebody needs to sing a Christmas carol."

Nothing dissolves stress like getting in the holiday spirit with some timeless Christmas songs. May I personally suggest anything off the Pentatonix Christmas album? You won’t regret it.

There’s a light at the end of the tunnel and you can see it (you might have to squint and try super hard to see it but it’s there I promise.) so stay strong! Soon enough, the semester will be behind you and you can indulge yourself with Hallmark movies by the fire and mugs of hot chocolate with endless marshmallows. I believe in you!!!