Candy Crush Christmas

I'm going to apologize now if you don't receive a personal Christmas card from the Morgan family this year or if your baked goods weren't baked in the Morgan home, but bought from the store.

I'm sorry in advance if your present is barely wrapped and tied with a jacked-up bow, and you can't read the writing on the attached card.

It seems I might have developed a muscular problem in my right hand, similar to carpel tunnel one might say, possibly maybe some early arthritis.

No, my new hand disability isn't due to all the hours I spend toiling away on the computer during the workday, nor is it due to all the stockings and blankets I'm crocheting for Christmas gifts.

That would make sense and be valued by others. However, the aching in my hand and fingers and the abnormal arch in my palm are all a result of my new favorite time-killer ... Candy Crush. A mom's worse enemy.

Friends have been inviting me to play this new game for months, and I use to consistently reject them, shaming them for wasting time playing games on their phones or computers.

I didn't mind playing a quick game of Yahtzee on my phone here and there, but it wasn't addictive and was something I could do to pass time while waiting to pick up kids or waiting at the doctor's office.

Then one day, I tried it. This hyped-up Candy Crush game. I'm thinking it was like an illegal drug, that once you try it, you're hooked kinda thing, because that is exactly what happened!

To my discredit, I confess, I am a Candy Crush addict and, for a busy mom, especially at Christmas time, the busiest time of the year, this is NOT a recommended addiction.

Why couldn't I have gotten addicted to baking Christmas cookies or making Christmas decorations?

Oh no, it has to be some ridiculous game on my phone that has, as I mentioned, caused my right hand to ache continuously, which I'm admitting for the first time, and my eyes to lose focus and dry out by 9 p.m. every night.

For Pete's sake, I have presents to wrap, cards to send, and plans to make but I'll tell ya what, if I get a free 10-20 minute spread, I'm playing me some Candy Crush.

All I can say is don't knock it till ya try it. But be careful, 'cause it'll get ya! The game does time out after so many minutes, so I'm forced to put it down until it resets and do normal things moms do like, oh ... fix dinner or do a load of laundry, maybe tuck a kid in for bed. If it didn't time out, we might need an intervention at our house, send me to Candy Crush rehab for Christmas instead.

That'd be a pretty sad way to bring in the New Year so I guess maybe I'll give my hand and eyes a rest today and maybe salvage a few precious holiday hours.

I'd better whip out the wrapping paper, make some Christmas to-do lists, and get some cookies started before it's too late and we have a full on Candy Crush Christmas at the Morgan house!