Let’s face it, as soon as Thanksgiving hits (often times even before) the Christmas season officially begins. The tree goes up with only a few ornaments broken, and the carols start pushing holiday joy into everyone’s ears. You’ve waited like three hundred and thirty days for this and now it’s finally here. But everyone knows it’s simultaneously the most wonderful time of year and the most stressful, and here’s why:

The Wonder:

There are soft lights everywhere; outside, on the tree, hanging in your room. You're constantly reminiscing about putting up your favorite ornaments from childhood, and draping garlands all over the place. The pleasant rush of gift shopping comes back, there are deals everywhere, and all the stores are playing the best Christmas music. Actually, Christmas music is everywhere, playing nonstop. It’s finally cold enough, and socially acceptable to drink hot chocolate every single day of the month. Baking starts. You break out the recipe book, it's time for special holiday treats, and by the end of it, you’ve made enough to make your whole house smell good. Speaking of food, all the Christmas candies, like your beloved candy canes, start to emerge once again. C’mon, everyone knows calories don’t count right now. Elf, A Christmas Story, Home Alone, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and all your favorite movies begin to play on tv. Everything is warm and bright. It’s that time of year for holiday parties, made even better if you’re in college. The family members that you never get to see come over and you’re embraced with countless hugs. If you’re lucky, they even stay at your place.

The Stress:

So many lights, who thought this many would be a good idea? Only a quarter of the lights on the tree actually turn on. You and your siblings fight over which ornaments to hang up, and a couple might get broken. The cat tries to eat the garland… he also gets tangled in it. What does everyone actually want this year? Once you think of something, you realize every single store is sold out of everything you wanted to buy. After hearing the same Christmas song five times in the past two hours, you get a little sick of it. It’s actually quite possible to choke on hot chocolate if it’s too hot, or not all the powder got mixed up properly. With holiday baking comes a messy kitchen, burnt cookies, and you covered in flour. Therefore, the house smells like burnt cookies, which is not a pleasant smell. Candy canes are great and all, until someone sharpens theirs into a shank and tries to impale you with it. By the end of the month, you come to the realization that those calories actually did matter...oops. The classics are good, but we get it, Hallmark, pretty girl falls for the ruggedly handsome guy in a different version of every Christmas love story ever told. Don’t need to see it again. You’re pumped and ready for that college party until someone spills beer all over your ugly sweater. Once your family has been in your house for more than two or three hours you remember why you really only see them around the holidays.

Even with the stress added into the wonder, there’s no mistaking that Christmas is a magical time filled with love, and even though some aspects might drive you crazy, you wouldn’t trade it for the world.