'Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate: Holidays, Special Occasions and Other Times Our Celebrations Get Out of Hand

Christmas comes but once a year; chaos never ends!

Happy Halloween, Merry Christmas and joyful Lumpy Rug Day. We didn't make that up. Lumpy Rug Day is celebrated every May 3, though "celebrated" might be too strong a word.

It's the American way to create a celebration for everything, then turn it into a chore or worse, a nightmare. 'Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate is a collection of humorous essays about holidays, special occasions and other times our celebrations make us feel not-so-celebratory. It's understanding for those who think Christmas form letters can be honest-or they can be interesting. And it's empathy for anyone who's ever gotten poison ivy on Naked Hiking Day or eaten all their Halloween candy and had to hand out instant oatmeal packets to their trick-or-treaters.

As a syndicated humor columnist, Dorothy Rosby has been lampooning our celebrations in publications across the West and Midwest for more than twenty years. Join her in celebrating National Bicarbonate of Soda Day December 30-in case Christmas gives you indigestion.