It’s that time of year again, and with all the excitement holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving generate, it’s easy to forget that, well, you’re actually still a student. Follow these tips to have a great holiday season, but still make school a priority.

If you’re the kind of person who demands they have the perfect Thanksgiving meal, best of luck to you! But really, start coordinating your plans early on. There’s nothing more stressful than running about the day before Thanksgiving because you don’t have cranberries ready or something.

Be thankful for Thanksgiving break! This is a great time to get all your Christmas shopping done, so you can stay focused for December, when it’s easy to get carried away with Christmas preparations. Be sure to get all of your gifts done by this time instead of playing video games for a week, no matter how tempting.

Seniors, if your colleges have application deadlines of Jan. 1st, this is a critical time to get them done, and sent out. If you don’t believe me, just think about all the errors the Common Application spit out when last year’s procrastinators crashed the system. I know personally that it can be very difficult to balance coursework with applications, so a school break is the perfect time to get them all done. What a relief!

Finally, and this is probably the most important, just don’t worry too much about the holidays. It’s easy to conjure an image of a perfect family smiling around a roasted turkey or piles of beautifully wrapped presents and demand an exact replica. But really, Christmas and Thanksgiving are just two days and you’ll still enjoy it if every Christmas song isn’t sung perfectly in tune or the meal isn’t arranged in your specific order. Remember these tips and have a great holiday season!