With the holidays approaching, “sleep in heavenly peace” turns into stay awake all night in stress. The Christmas season is meant for spending quality time with friends and family, but these days high schoolers don’t have time to think about that. We are bombarded with last-minute projects and assignments, attempting to boost our GPA before the oh-so-dreaded exams. Along with scrambling around to get gifts for our loved ones and baking cookies with Grandma, all the things on our to-do lists (that we are making and checking twice) can make us dread the holiday season.

The manic demands of the holidays can cause a great time with family to turn into a blue, blue Christmas. High schoolers feel like they are drowning in the constant cry of “bake this” and “wrap that” and “spend money here, and here and here” during this seemingly magical time. Most teens who work are paid near minimum wage, which means they must save multiple paychecks in order to buy gifts for friends and family.

“Giving gifts makes me happy and I love seeing someone’s reaction when they open the gift.  I love giving gifts more than I like receiving them,” said junior Madeline Weston.

We would all love to give our family and friends amazing presents that would make their day, but it is a challenge to give your loved ones adequate gifts when you are jingle ballin’ on a budget.

“Well, I have zero dollars and zero cents, so I feel bad asking my mom for money to buy her own Christmas present,” said junior Payton Schulte.

The holidays can be tough when your mom deserves the world, but you can only afford to buy her a scented candle.

In addition to the stress of having to purchase gifts, students also have to prepare for the oncoming invasion of extended family. A person can only answer “Why don’t you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?” “Why are you always on that phone?” or “Where are you going to college?” so many times before Great Aunt Bertha will have to take one of her famous pumpkin pies to the face.

“Getting ready to have family over can be stressful because you have to make sure everything is at its fullest potential, even stuff like having the toilet paper facing the right way,” said senior Lauren Basse.

The peppermint icing on the Christmas anxiety cake is the big bad finals. It’s hard to get into the Christmas spirit when these exams are looming in your sugar plum dreams. Juggling eight classes all year is hard enough without having a grade-deciding test in all of your courses within a three-day period. But even through all this stress, it is important to remember the true meaning of Christmas and celebrate it with your loved ones (even if your toilet paper may not be facing the right way).

“For me personally, all this stress is nothing compared to the happiness I feel when I am finally reunited with my family after the long waiting period. The stress is just a small demeanor when it is being compared to sheer happiness and love,” said junior Megan O’Brien

So when looking at the big picture, the stress is all worth it in the end once you get to spend time with the ones you love. Have a very merry Christmas, Crusader nation!