Ah, the holidays. Some people love them, other people hate them. Regardless of where you stand on them, you have to agree that they are stressful. Here are 11 reasons the holidays stress people out.

1) Holiday Foods

Most people would never turn their noses up to their Thanksgiving feasts, but there are people like myself who are so fussy that, despite the dinner spread, the typical holiday meal just does not have what we want. Luckily for me, however, there has been a switch in the holiday meals so that my dinner is more than mashed potatoes and corn. Thanks, fam!

2) The Amount of Food

So, cooking a ton of food for a large family makes sense, but when you’re eating left overs for a week, there’s too much food. Simply put. Why do we have to make such huge feasts? Yeah, yeah, food is a sign of love and all that, but I just don’t see it that way. Perhaps it’s because of how I feel about number one.

3) Lots of Family, Small Spaces

I’m not a huge fan of gatherings of people, even family. Like, I love you, but I don’t want to get crowded into a small space with huge numbers of people, family or not. I want to see you, but can we do it without the rest of the family bumping elbows at the dinner table?

4) Dinner Conversations

These can be… interesting, to say the least. That is if they actually happen or you’re actually involved in them. Some holidays, it just seems like nothing actually happens in terms of conversations and then other times you wish the conversations would stop.

5) Questions

As a college student, I want to tell you that one of the worst things to discuss at holiday dinners is our future plans. Perhaps, this Christmas, give us the gift of not asking a million questions of how school is going or what we want to do when we graduate…? Can you do us that one favor, please?

6) Loss of Family

Every family is aching from the loss of someone they love. Recent or years past, an empty chair at the dinner table is painful. For some people, regardless of the years, the holidays are simply too painful to enjoy.

7) Who Does the Cooking?!?!

For some families, this debate is settled. For other families, full on arguments break out over who is going to be doing the cooking for the holiday meals. I believe this to be a trivial argument. Does it matter who does the cooking? Someone just cook the meal that I’m going to pick through in my fussy way! To many people, my thoughts on this matter are completely offensive. Figure out your cooking issues before the holidays, people.

8) Gifts

I love giving gifts, but I hate thinking of them. Even worse than finding the gifts for me is keeping them secret. Even harder still is resisting the temptation to give you your gifts super early. If I’m buying gifts, why do I have to wait for a specific date to give you the gifts? Why won’t you accept it NOW?!

9) Lack of Holiday Spirit

Bah humbug. I’m super guilty of being the one to lack the holiday spirit. For that, I apologize to those who are around me. I know that being around someone who lacks holiday spirit is quite a bummer. I’m not trying to ruin your holiday fun, but please don’t try to force me to enjoy it either.

10) Shopping

Again, shopping for gifts sucks when you have no idea what to get for someone. What I really don’t understand though is Black Friday shopping. One day after giving thanks for what we have, people kill each other to buy more junk. AND it’s even moved into Thanksgiving itself! Eat your fill at dinner and risk getting trampled for deals in the store in the same night! Yay?

11) Diets

This one should explain itself. You simply can’t be on a diet at the holidays, but wait, there’s more! Constant comments of “you’ve gained weight, perhaps cut back on the desserts tonight” or “you’ve lost weight, have some more pie!” These comments are simply terrible for anyone who is dieting.