It's the most wonderful time of the year.

With those kids jingle belling and everyone telling you "Be of of good cheer." It's the most wonderful time of the year...

OR...

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

With those kids and their group meetings and projects and papers and exams.

It's crunch time.

Your teachers, who have probably forgotten there is an extra week of school in December this year, are piling on the work.

There are last-minute homework assignments, group projects that every student dreads, papers and tests galore.

It's far from the most wonderful time of the year for any college student.

Coffee is starting to be served by the gallons, chocolate is always nearby and the lack of sleep is starting to catch up with you.

You start hoping that your professors' health will be slightly impaired (a really bad cold perhaps), so they can't make it to class and you will have extra time to do work.

And then, you get the teachers who try to tell you how you should manage your stress.

Eat well and get eight or more hours of sleep. Avoid caffeine. Try to exercise every day.

Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly how they made it through school.

So, here's the key. Get a fondue set and dip fruit into chocolate. Fruit falls into the healthy eating category and the chocolate solves the craving you may get during finals week.

Seriously. I've come to the conclusion that there are fallbacks like exercise that will undoubtedly make you feel better.

However, my philosophy is do what makes you happy.

You might not make it through the week if you don't schedule time with your friends. It doesn't need to be a party.

But a coffee or movie date will do.

Sitting around and talking to your roommates can be therapeutic as well.

You all are going through the same thing right now, so releasing that tension to each other could really be helpful.

I also recommend breaking something.

A few years ago, my roommate was given a kit from a group she's in to deal with finals week stress.

I thought it was funny and we laughed about it.

However, part of it involved popping ballons once a final was over and done with.

I won't lie - popping the balloons was kind of fun.

Throwing pillows at something or someone might help too.

I would definitely recommend plugging in Christmas lights and listening to Christmas music.

Hot chocolate, particularly peppermint hot chocolate, is delightful.

Just don't get too addicted to it.

But really, this advice means nothing.

I'm saying, do what makes you happy and try not to stress out, but how often does that actually work?

If you're like me, you're scheduled to the last hour of sleep. There is no extra time in the day.

You rush from meeting to meeting. You live by a watch.

And God help you if you lose your planner because who knows where you will end up.

So, you're just going to have to suck it up and deal with it.

You will get less sleep for the next few weeks.

If you're lucky, you will get in a few decent meals.

You may even make it to the gym.

But more than likely, you will be swilling coffee at the library, exercising will equal the walk to and from your apartment, and eating may consist of whatever is left over in your refrigerator.

Unless of course, your mom decides to be super nice and send you some holiday goodies.

Hint, hint.

But everyone else is going through it too.

So, stop complaining.

Yeah, it's rough. Yeah, it can make life miserable. And yeah, it makes you feel rather frazzled.

But 40,000 of your closest friends are going through it too.

And they have all done it or will do it for four years or more depending on their academic plans.

That being said, I hereby formally apologize to my friends, family and basically anyone else I come in contact with over the next few weeks. I probably don't mean to snap at you about that simple thing you asked me the other day.

Really, it's just the stress talking.