Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, the angelic voice of Michael Bublé singing “It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas,” the smell of the Christmas tree, crippling fear of final exams, “It’s a Wonderful Life”: this is the Christmas season.

Well, this is the Christmas season for the college student. As you may have noticed, one of those things is not like the other. However, it is that one outlier that is able to completely overpower the others and make the Christmas season just a little less sweet.

For most people, Christmas begins when Thanksgiving ends—unless you miss Rudolph so much that you start to celebrate once Halloween passes. And for a little while, the college student can enjoy this Christmas spirit, maybe helping their family set up the tree during the Thanksgiving holiday or partaking in the beginning of Freeform’s 25 Days of Christmas. But the as Christmas quickly approaches, final exams arrive even faster.

No matter how many ugly Christmas sweaters you wear in protest, final exams will loom over your head, constantly reminding you of your inadequacies, until you are able to take them.

Granted, this is a great problem to have. The chance to receive a college education is an opportunity that few are afforded.

But it is disheartening to realize how easy it is to put the most wonderful time of the year in the back of your mind. Rightfully so, focusing on exams takes up the majority of your time during the weeks leading up to it. Fears of failure permeate your thought process and propel you forward, onto hopeful success, but away from Santa Claus and Frosty.

So making hot chocolate and settling down to watch a Christmas movie can be sullied by the constant fear final exams. It is almost as if you are cheating on your finals by focusing on anything other than them. Finals get very jealous.

And finals are everywhere. No matter what you attempt—hiding under the covers to eat a candy cane, drinking eggnog at a party, listening to Christmas music with noise cancelling headphones—finals will find you. Finals will join you under the covers, sneak up behind you at the party and infiltrate your headphones.

Sure, finals won’t actually spill your eggnog, but they are always in the back of your mind. And it is difficult to forget about them, even during the Christmas season.

So the college student has a few choices. The first choice is to simply miss out on part of the Christmas season, and face the overwhelming stress of finals without a relief.

Another option is to completely forget about finals, fully indulge in the Christmas season, and throw luck to the wind. I choose this option…

I actually just got word from my father, I will not be choosing the second option.

But put your candy cane flavored pitch forks away, there is a third option that allows the two to be integrated.

Focus on exams. Study hard, pay attention in class, take notes and put your best effort toward acing your finals. And most importantly, allow yourself to be satisfied with the work you put in because you know you put in your best effort.

But just because you work hard doesn’t mean you can’t to play hard. So let finals be jealous. Take a break from studying and throw on “Elf.” Blast Christmas music in your room. And don’t feel bad about it. Because yes, Christmas does happen every year, but if you keep using that as an excuse to not indulge in the holidays, you will never enjoy them.

Ace your finals, enjoy the Christmas season, and Happy Holidays.