I have spent a few years silently diagnosing people with some type of temporary psychosis that tends to manifest sometime between Halloween and December 1 and continues to progress into the new year.

Once the seasonal sickness passes, it appears these people begin to wake up from their holiday-induced haze and go on to live their daily life as if nothing happened. As if the majority of the population didn’t just become shopping obsessed animals, hungry for the best sale, salivating money streams faster than Pavlov’s Dog at the dinnertime bell.

So, as you may have gathered I have a tendency to be a bit of a pessimist around the holiday season. I don’t actually hate the holidays, though, and I don’t walk around with a scowl on my face, treating people like Ebenezer Scrooge pre-transformation.

Christmas time started to lose its luster gradually, some time after I realized that Santa’s handwriting was suspiciously similar to my mother’s (and upon further investigation I caught my parents putting out presents, mostly labeled “From: Santa”). I was okay, though, mainly because I think I was a skeptic pretty early into the Santa thing anyway.

I also began to despise the greed that revolved around the holiday. Seeing adults act barbaric, trampling store clerks and physically fighting over whichever toy was the hottest commodity, or giant televisions that were unnecessary, but were marked down enough to make holiday shoppers draw blood for the sake of “saving” money in the name of “holiday spirit”.

The idea of Christmas became laughable to me. People became too focused on material items, and the holidays became all about quantity, not quality.

Obviously, as a child, I loved waking up to see the presents neatly wrapped under our real tree. I would go wake my brother up, and we would snoop around before our parents woke up so we could guess what might be in the various boxes and bags.

I always loved just laying on the couch before the sun came up just to marvel at how dazzling the lights looked in the dark. I think the most magical time of Christmas was during those last moments of quiet, dark, stillness before the storm of wrapping paper remnants and passing presents around, while the coffee was brewing, the bacon was frying, and everyone was laughing from the excitement of one of the most anticipated holiday activities.

Honestly, I only really remember a few of the actual gifts I was given, but I can still remember how happy I was every Christmas to have breakfast with my parents and brothers, and how excited I was to get ready and go see my cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents.

Family dinners have always been my favorite part of holidays.

Now, in my mid-twenties, I still roll my eyes when I hear any Christmas songs and immediately feel agitated. I can confidently say that Christmas music will always be the worst form of torture, especially when it is blasting through every public place that is somehow always packed with too many people that couldn’t have possibly existed in your town.

Even if my views toward Christmas songs won’t change, I will say I have actively been trying to be more pleasant this holiday season.

My boyfriend is one of those people who actually enjoys black Friday shopping, but he’s not psychotic to the point of hitting up the deals before the sun rises. He just likes to see what deals he might find. This year I mentally prepared myself for the shrouds of energetic Christmas shoppers, most of which were dressed in themed sweaters, sporting slightly frizzy hair and had caffeine-induced wide eyes constantly scanning the sale signs.

I actually was much less annoyed this year because I went into this as a personal challenge for the ultimate test of patience. Also, we didn’t get to the mall until around 10 a.m., which seems to be the time veteran shoppers refuel with some breakfast and more caffeine.

I even admit that we made a great purchase of a fancy Ninja coffee machine, which I have zero regrets purchasing. Dom and I are spoiled coffee snobs, and we have been eyeing this machine for about a year. (and we didn’t even have to push anyone out of the way for it. Imagine that.)

While discussing gift ideas with Dom, I became jealous of how excited he gets over the holiday season. I took his enthusiasm and tried to use that as my motivation to be less bah humbug and more joyfully spirited.

I went into work and thought that maybe if I pretended to be super into decorating and crafting that maybe the clients would be, too. This wasn’t exactly the case, at first.

I actually had to try really hard for a few days to get them engaged in anything holiday-related. I was enthusiastic enough to eventually get some of them to make some decorations and get excited about putting up a tree.

I made ornaments for work that I got very into painting (they all had a different Christmas pun on them) and then I got my own stuff to make ornaments for home.

I decided the one thing that always puts me in a positive mood during the holiday season is Harry Potter. I think it has something to do with mixing literal magic with the Christmas miracle type magic.

I really also like how Christmas in the wizarding world didn’t emphasize religion and didn’t focus on the excessive gifts, just the true meaning of the holidays of appreciation, love and friendship (mushy I know). I am now working on Harry Potter themed decorations (mostly Hufflepuff themed because I am very much a Hufflepuff).

I also love to have a real tree.

As a kid, we always had real trees in our house for Christmas, and we decorated it with homemade ornaments my parents still have, but that are very disheveled from years of curious cats, nesting mice and just simple wear and tear.

Dom and I had a fake tree last year, which our cat successfully mangled. This year we agreed upon a real tree, which made me happy, and then decided to drive out to my house in the middle of nowhere, walk around the land, and cut down a tree.

This is our first real tree, and we love it. The cat is still confused, though.

I also am trying to coordinate a day trip into New York City, so that Dom and I can do the ultimate mushy couple activity of seeing the tree at Rockefeller Center (which came from Oneonta, NY, Dom’s alma mater).

I also have put much more thought into gifts for people. I am trying to go to more local businesses for my shopping. I am also looking into some organizations to donate to and signed up at work to get some gifts for a family our agency “adopted”.

I actually had a lot of fun buying gifts for strangers. I even agreed to participate in the office Secret Santa, which is an activity I have not done since elementary school gift swapping days.

I even surprised Dom with an early gift of a kitten (to return the favor for giving me my precious cat), which he is thoroughly excited for (we get to pick him up within the next few days).

I also have a list of my favorite Christmas movies, mostly from my childhood that my family and I would watch together. I want to be sure to watch those with Dom while we sip some tea (or probably wine) and enjoy the classics, such as "A Muppet Christmas Carol", "Home Alone" (1 and 2 only, though), "Elf", "The Night Before" (Seth Rogen in a Hanukah sweater will for sure spread the Christmas cheer), and basically any other holiday movie that is mostly about humor.

The only exception to the funny movies is "It's A Wonderful Life", which is my mom’s favorite (which I used to roll my eyes at, but now will admit I enjoy it in my adult years).

I feel a bit more optimistic about this holiday season, and my mood has definitely changed, but I can’t say I will be Christmas crazy like many people I meet. I just know what is important to me, and I want to keep it that way, but by being less annoyed by others’ holiday enthusiasm.

I just hope that we can remind ourselves what the holidays are really about--to cherish the happy times with friends and family and help out those who don’t exactly get as excited for this time of year.

Remember not to expect everyone to love Christmas as much as you might love it because you never actually know what this time of year really means to someone.

Think twice about the excess you may be indulging in, and take the money you might have spent on something your family doesn’t really need and use it for something else.

Whether you put it away for you and your loved ones to enjoy a quality night out or use it to buy a nice jacket for a kid at your child’s school that has never actually had a decent winter jacket--just don't spend it solely on yourself.

Just don’t become the holiday zombie who only acts like a joyful person in the last few months of the year.

But, also don’t be a bitter Grinch like I have been.

Even though being holiday cheerful is absolutely exhausting for someone who would rather hide away from the chaos, it can be pretty rewarding.