UNITED STATES—The holidays can be stressful. Look, I just have to be blunt here because there is so much chaos that comes with the holidays, especially when we talk about holiday gatherings. Someone brought up an interesting debate last week, about rather you want to host a gathering or attend one. I always thought it was so much fun to host, but now I am starting to second guess that notion.

Why? I helped host Thanksgiving and I just felt burnt out. When you host there is so much work that goes into it. It’s not just about the cooking; it is about the preparation, the planning, the organizing, the decorating. It is more work than you actually think people. So I’ve somehow got wrapped into hosting a Christmas holiday gathering. I had not planned it, but here we are people.

Now, I explained to my sister that I would cook a few dishes, but now it looks like I’m cooking all the dishes. The prime rib, the mashed potatoes, the charcuterie board, deserts, appetizers, hell, I might as well host it. So it started to get into my head, I got get things together and I said this because after a trip to the dollar store, where I was expected to ONLY pick-up a few items it literally turned into a host fest. We’re purchasing all types of party planning decorations, gadgets and such, so that is even more work on top of the work that I already have planned people.

To make the situation worse, I have work all week, and I’m not juggling one job, I have two people. Yeah, so imagine having to take the little free time you have to finish last minute Xmas shopping, prepare to host a massive feast and get the house in order for guests in the middle of a pandemic. Stress on top of stress people.

So I’m hoping with the slimmer of free time I have late Thursday night to start prepping some of the food. The sooner I start the better in my opinion because I don’t have to worry about rushing trying to do too much as time starts to run out. You never have the time you want when you actually need it.

When you host, you don’t want to be so tired that you don’t get to enjoy the festivities at hand. What does that mean? It means you just want the party to be over as soon as possible so that you can get some sleep and that is not a good thing people, not at all. So this past year has taught me I would rather attend an event than host it. With the hosting duties it just becomes too much, if the hosting is light to where I’m not overwhelmed that makes a massive difference people. However, let’s be honest when have you gone to a gathering that was too be small, but in a matter of days word quickly spreads and 10 people immediately turns to 20. Yeah, that’s life America.

Written By Jason Jones