It's here. The season of "run your pants off and then run some more."

On Friday I left work a little early to do some Black Friday Christmas shopping and then that night we had our second Thanksgiving dinner - this one hosted at my house. And on Saturday morning I finished cleaning up that Thanksgiving, and headed out to Kansas City to do some Christmas shopping. One holiday to the next, just like that. That evening, I went back to Kansas City with the whole family for Thanksgiving Number 3.

This is getting confusing.

Sunday morning my husband got on the roof to hang Christmas lights and I got busy putting up red and green decorations all over my house. Bye bye Thanksgiving! Christmas has moved to town and you are prom queen no more!

At noon, we bundled up and loaded the family up and drove to Valley Falls, where our friends own some land and invited a group of friends to do a "tree rush" - wherein we all ran out into the wilderness and cut down a cedar to bring home and use for our Christmas tree.

But of course, we were a little late meeting up with the caravan what with the light-hanging and Christmas decorating. And then we couldn't find our tie-downs. Not to make everyone even later, we called ahead and asked if there was extra rope to be had. "Sure, sure!" our friends said. "Come on out, we've got it."

Caravan meet up. Mission: wild Christmas tree by meganstuke

And so we went, off to Valley Falls to cut down a tree and strap it to our car.

Our tree by meganstuke

When it came time to tie the giant sucker to the top of the tree, my husband looked concerned. "This twine is not gonna cut it," he said. "Yes it is," I countered - ever the optimist. "Just double duty it."

We didn't get down the highway five miles before that giant cedar snapped the twine and hurled itself at the car behind us. OOPS.

Undeterred, I said "Just shove it in the back of the truck." And so we did, and our son rode back to Lawrence with cedar branches brushing his cheek.

At 5:00 we pulled into our driveway, tired already from a long day of activity, and my husband noticed a cord hanging off the house from the lights. "I'll be in in a few minutes. I'm just gonna go hide that cord."

Fifteen minutes later, a string of expletives akin to those of the dad in "A Christmas Story" rang out across our neighborhood. Somehow, in the process of hiding the extension cord, my husband managed to knock the entire string of lights off our roof. POP POP POP POP POP they came out of the clips until every last one was laying on our lawn.

"I guess we're not decorating the tree tonight," I said.

In an effort to start creating some Christmas traditions my son will enjoy for years to come, we basically turned ourselves into the Griswolds. My "WE WILL HAVE FUN AND ENJOY CHRISTMAS EVEN IF I HAVE TO KILL US ALL TO DO IT" attitude, combined with my husband's "Let's just get this over with" attitude make for a comedy routine not to be bested by Chevy Chase and his band of ne'er-do-wells.

And I have to sit back and ask myself, "Is it worth it?" Do we do this to ourselves, all of this holidaying 'til we drop? Are we causing more stress than the precious memories are worth?

I still believe it's worth it, and because of that my poor husband will crawl up on the roof again tonight, and I'll race home from a workout and put on a decent meal so we can be full bellied and happy when we decorate our tree. And this weekend I'll start baking the arsenal of cookies and canning jars of whatnot to give as gifts to neighbors and co workers and friends.

The trick, I think, is to just know when to stop. Know when to say "That's enough cookies," and "I can't say 'Yes' to any more parties." And that is a line I struggle to define. I say "Yes" to everything, because WHO WOULD WANT TO MISS SOMETHING? And my husband shrugs his shoulders and says "Go ahead - I'll be down in the basement watching Star Wars - AGAIN." To each his own Merry Christmas, I guess.

Here's to the holidays, Griswold-style.