As if the holidays weren't stressful enough, what do you do when finals week is thrown into the mix? Not to mention that your bank account basically laughs at you every time you check it like that $2 is magically going to turn into $2,000. You're trying to figure out this whole "being an adult" thing, but with being an adult comes rent and bills that you've got to worry about. With the whole "adulting" thing in mind, we suddenly feel obligated to buy everyone in the family a gift no matter how many times they tell you not to, but how am I supposed to come home without presents? That's not how this whole thing works. Being a college student during the holidays truly is a struggle.

We've all heard the phrase "broke college kid," but you'll never truly understand it until you become one. No matter how many hours you work, that paycheck at the end of the week never seems to be enough. Especially during finals when you're torn between studying every free second you have and picking up every shift that you're off at work. Do I focus on my grades or do I drop out and become a stripper? At least that way I'd have money to get gifts for everyone.

It kills me how your family will always shrug it off and say, "Oh, don't worry about getting anything for me!" Hush and let me be a grown up. Yes, I know my nephews are only two and won't know whether or not I get them something but I still have to...My sister would love this!...Little brother could use some more of these...Momma always talks about wanting this...Daddy needs a new gun anyways... *checks online cart: $572.* *checks bank account: $3.81.* Shit. The struggle is so real.

Everyone deserves so much and it breaks our hearts to not be able to get everything for everyone. Yes, the holidays are about spending time with your family and appreciating everyone but it's still tough for us. So if you have a kid or family member who is in college coming home for Christmas, just know how hard we tried and how badly we wanted to give you the world, and if we see "off" it's just because we wanted to do so much but couldn't.

A real home cooked meal usually fixes this, though. Every college kid loves and misses real food from back home. You get tired of Ramen noodles after a while.