Don’t get me wrong I love Christmas, I really do, but with the busiest, biggest holiday of the year comes stressful situations. For almost a decade I worked in retail, so to say for those 9 years that were spent in the throes of crowds, complaining customers and non-stop Christmas music has caused me some angst, is an understatement. Still to this day, when I walk into a Wal-Mart around the holidays, I immediately feel like crawling under a rack and assuming the fetal position.

Another huge task that I find myself burdened with is pulling out my 10+ totes of Christmas. I love decorating but I think I’ve finally overdone it. I ran out of shelving, therefore I think I may have a seasonal case of hoarding, if that’s a thing. It stresses me out not to have enough places for all my “stuff”. Trivial, I know.

That leads me to my cat. The tree never looks the same after that first day up, thanks to her. Late into spring I will be finding ornaments in all corners of the house thanks to my 13 lb ball of fur. I could keep going but I’m sure we all have similar anxieties over the holidays.

Burning cookies, crazy relatives, kids on break to entertain…The list goes on and on. The good news is it will end soon enough. The bad news is it will happen again next year. The better news is you can always grab some coke with a splash of vodka and numb your pain. Happy Hanukkah!