Bring on the Scrooges

So the Holiday season is upon us. Brought in with Christmas music, decorations, the bitter cold, and bitter attitudes all around. As a kid, I marvelled at the "bad mood" and "stress" adults insisted Christmastime brought. How could a time of no school, tons of junk food, and presents be accompanied by inconvenience? Enter, the era after high school. Now, there are plenty of reasons stress is building up through this late-November season. And to vent a bit, I'm just going to make sure all of you enjoy the same pleasures I am.

Gift Buying: Honestly, who could have thought this is so hard? Birthdays are one thing. You buy one gift, for one person. Usually you have plenty of time to think about it, an inside joke on-hand to accompany the gift, or a 21st where all you need to buy your friend is a hangover. Christmas is a completely different side of gift-buying. You want to get the perfect gift...ahem...gifts for multiple people. And how do you decide what they want, what they will like, and more importantly...what fits in the budget. Which takes me to Holiday Headache #2.

Money: Who has it? Not me. Not most college students are struggling through second-hand books, cheap groceries, and spending their cash on way too much alcohol on the weekends. How are we supposed to afford gifts through these conditions? And if you are one of the lucky who have a stable job, you are right back to situation #1. And of course you get your parents who insist they want nothing for Christmas, it's "all about us." But then you feel like an ass on Christmas morning when every other child has at least supplied a hand-made craft. And please, who is going to take a macaroni drawing from a 20-year old seriously? Seriously.

The Weather/Lines: Obviously, if you have Headaches #1 and #2 solved, you are alright and set on to endure the Christmas stores. But, alas, here is another problem. Stores are generally packed, even if it be the Rite-Aid at 2am. Christmas shopping occurs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So of course you end up parking about a mile away from the shop door, which leads you to want to bundle up. Inside, however, you have the mess of wearing an over sized coat, attempting to try on and look at clothes, while maneuvering as an Eskimo. Of course the stores are packed with crazy-bitch moms grabbing that last freaking Tickle-Me-Elmo for the bratty child who cannot LIVE without it. In the process of their dive for the insane and annoying toy, these moms will push anyone out of their way, send people flying into carts of candy or aisles of more freakishly crazed parents. So please, tell me how this holiday shopping thing is fun?

School: In order to get to Headaches 1-3, one this age must first complete the school's semester. So on top of worrying about what to get people, working overtime to get the money needed for the gifts, and getting up enough courage to brave the stores, we must study for finals and finish up those last projects. Thank God there is only a couple weeks of this.

By now you think I am a complete Scrooge. I'm not. I actually love decorating, shopping, and stressing over what to get for people. Now, however, I completely understand the stressfulness of the holidays. Understand it way too much.

'Tis the holiday-freaking-season.