The holidays are stressful for everyone. The hustle and bustle of family, parties, shopping, religious events, school events, and vacations. Throw in a newly adopted child and one has chaos written all over the scene. Our first Thanksgiving and Christmas was traumatic for AJ. In fact, it was so traumatic that I think it probably contributed to some of his Post Traumatic Stress. In retrospect, it is possible that the first 6 months home in our care could have even caused his PTSD but there was little that we could do about it.