“Daddy, Please Don't Get Drunk This Christmas . . .

. . . I don't want to see my mama cry”. So goes one of the songs from Trailer Trash's Trashy Little Christmas. Whatever you may think, there’s a warning note hidden in the lyrics – the upcoming holidays are a very stressful time of year.

The main stressors (to use a psychologist’s term) are: money problems, scheduling problems, and relationships’ problems. Not surprisingly, it’s the 25- to 50-year-olds who are most affected. Other stressors: finding the right gift, parking-lot stalkers, fear of overeating, and year’s-end problems on the job.

Advice is at hand. Apart from general approaches, like meditation, fighting anger, or yoga, you may want to shop online for your gifts. And if you’re still feeling stressed out, don’t turn to the egg nog! As the song says, it can have serious side effects.

(You may be wondering how I got hold of the title song. I heard the first few bars on my favorite radio program, “Imus in The Morning”.)