Congratulations! You have officially made it through the Thanksgiving holiday! The cooking, the cleaning, the shopping is now done. 

No more relatives.

No more stress.

Now, all you’re left with is the pounds of leftovers, cleaning your house…again, and reality slapping you in the face when you realize that you have to go back to work.

Enjoy your brief period of rest because guess what is right around the corner?

Christmas. Hanukkah. Kwanzaa. New Year’s Eve. More relatives. More food. More shopping and cleaning.

You officially have about three weeks to compose yourself. Decorations need to be put up.Toys for the kids need to be purchased. Holiday flights back home need to be booked. If you celebrate Christmas, you have to find the perfect tree for your home. That’s if you are part of a family that enjoys having a real Christmas tree rather than a fake one.

The Christmas songs are already taking over the radio. A popular station that I listen to is playing these songs from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Visions of Christmas are stuck in my mind until I listen to “Feliz Navidad” and “Jingle Bell Rock” for three weeks. It gets tiring to the point where you are saying “Bah Humbug!” Most often, you get sick of listening to them before Christmas even gets here! 

Coincidentally, the annoyingly overplayed Christmas tunes are exactly like the pounds of leftovers on Thanksgiving. You become excited thinking about all the yummy food you get to eat, but as soon as the holiday is over, you are stuck eating Thanksgiving sandwiches for the next week. It is very tiring, yet I am still grateful for the annual event of stuffing myself until I can’t eat anymore.

What makes it bearable at the same time as enjoyable, is the fact that your family is there to enjoy it with you. There is always that one family member to make the day interesting. Who’s the Clark Griswold in your family?

As we begin to approach round two of the winter holidays, remember to be engulfed in the holiday spirit!

Stop and listen to those cliche Christmas songs. 

Buy that useless, yet somehow entertaining toy for your niece or nephew.

Enjoy the joyful holidays approaching, for we will soon be wishing away the snow and begging for summer!

Finally, don’t forget to finish all those Thanksgiving leftovers before they go to waste in the fridge.

‘Tis the season!