Even though it is “the most wonderful time of the year” for most people, Christmas means another trip on the “Struggle Express” for others. Cooking, traveling, music, gift shopping and decorating are just a few reasons why the St. Dominic community finds it hard to get into the holiday spirit.

Christmas is known for its ability to bring families together to celebrate and eat good food. For Mrs. Fridley and senior Keenan Bross, food is the reason Christmas isn’t so “holly jolly.”

“We always, on Christmas night, go to a dear friend’s home for Christmas dinner and I am encouraged by their kids to bring ‘Mary’s Mashed Potatoes’ and there are thirty some-odd people there, and so I make mashed potatoes for them. It’s maybe fifteen pounds of potatoes that I have to peel, cook, mash and add cream cheese, onion salt and sour cream to and pack them up and take bowls of ‘Mary’s Mashed Potatoes’ to their house,” said Mrs. Fridley.

“Every Christmas I have to pretend to like my grandmother’s clam chowder,” said Bross.

The holiday season is notorious for its crowded airports and highways because families travel far and wide to reunite and spend time together on vacation. Senior Sara Norsen describes traveling as her ultimate Christmas struggle.

“Every year, we go to Colorado on a trip, but we drive there, and so then every year on Christmas Day we are driving back so we are in the car the whole time,” said Norsen.

Once Thanksgiving is over, Christmas music can be heard in nearly every store and restaurant. For junior Jack Hogan, the best way to spread Christmas cheer is not singing loud for all to hear.

“My Christmas struggle is Christmas music…I work at Pasta House and they play the same Christmas album like fifty times,” said Hogan.

The season of giving requires frantic shoppers to hunt down the perfect gift for their loved ones. Senior Eddie Koch gets a holiday headache every year trying to find gifts for his not-so-tiny family.

“My Christmas struggle is trying to find good gifts for all of my nine siblings,” said Koch.

During the Christmas season, the average American home is not complete without a stunning Christmas tree decked out with lights and ornaments from head to toe. For senior Nicole Entzeroth, her family’s Christmas tree dilemma hinders her ability to get in the holiday spirit.

“Every year, my mom and I decorate the Christmas tree and she insists that we put an angel on the top of the tree instead of a star like everybody else and it’s so heavy that it tilts either to the front, to the back or to the side and I just look at it and like the rest of it is so beautiful and then there’s the angel,” said Entzeroth.

Getting caught up in the struggles of the holiday season distracts from the real meaning of Christmas. When it comes down to it, Christmas is about forgetting one’s struggles, enjoying time with family and remembering the one for whom we celebrate: Jesus.