When I was raising my family the dreaded task varied from year to year. One year it might have been the search for the ultimate cabbage patch doll, or living up to my reputation of great cookies. It might have been throwing a birthday party for the one kid who was born at Thanksgiving. So many things were wonderful and at the same time daunting. Now that my kids are grown the biggest task my husband and I face is tramping over the mountains to find the perfect tree, getting it home and errect without sending one of us to the chiropractor! It's can all be stressfull or fun. you have to decide for yourself. As Mothers the most important thing to remember is to be kind to yourself. No family wants the heart of the home beating a million miles a minute. Do what you can, they never remember what you didn't do.

Putting up the lights! You can bet that a string will be out, and you can't fix it, and then you have to buy more, and then the colors don't match and on and on.

Have to agree with Mary Ellen here...the lights are the worst. No matter how clever we try to be while storing them it's inevitably frustrating to untangle them.
I don't know if applies here but packing Christmas up is equally as bad!

Last minute, desperate gift shopping when it turns out the one person you thought you wouldn't see calls you and says "I have a present for you!"