When I was younger, I would count down the days from Halloween until Christmas. It was to me, "the most wonderful time of year." But as the years go by, Christmas has turned into more of a stressor than a time of celebration.

Now we have to worry about getting a gift for our parents, best friends, and even our significant other. They can't be cheap, but on the other hand, you have a budget and while it would be nice to get your BFF that $40 watch from Charming Charlie's, you're going to need to eat in the next few days. Instead of merrily dashing through the snow, you're anxiously driving through it hoping the people around you know how to drive. To be frank, growing up sucks, especially around Christmas.

Now people might just brush this off as winter-time blues, but there's no denying that stress levels spike during the holiday season. Most of us are traveling across the country to see family. Let's not even get started on the family reunion and all the stress that comes with that. On the bright side, finals are done, right?

Decorating the Christmas tree with Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer on in the background; fighting your heavy eyelids to stay awake and catch Santa eating the cookies you left out, and waking up early to see what awaited you under your tree. All memories that I hold near and dear to my heart. Even if in the morning there were cookie crumbs left on my dad's mustache.

At this point in my life, I'm no longer waiting for the presents under the tree addressed from a big fat man with a long white beard. I'm waiting until I can be the parent woken up early Christmas morning by my children to see them excitedly open all their gifts. Until then, we can see the looks on our parents, friends and significant others faces as they open up our moderately priced gifts.

So this holiday season, let's not let Christmas anxiety get us down because dammit it is "the most wonderful time of the year!"