It's already in the air. Can you feel it? The chill on your face, the blissful aromas tingling your nose and images of sugarplums percolating into your dreams — the holiday season is upon us.

Yes, we are on the verge of entering the month-and-a-half-long stretch where the elevated levels of joy and complete chaos combine to create the best time of the year. The only thing getting me through the week's midterms is knowing that in exactly eight days there will be nothing but football and food, and life will be perfect.

In essence that's what makes this time of year so special. Every rule that applies to the reality of the rest of the year goes out the window. We get to indulge by splurging on everything from sweets to expensive gifts, with a slight disregard for the costs they impose.

But all things must come to end. Sooner or later Jan. 2 will arrive, we'll have to go back to reality, and our holiday weight and wounded bank account will follow.

Keeping this in the back of our collective minds is what makes the cost of this season OK.

However, there are some people who refuse to accept a return to reality and choose to live in a world where the holiday season lasts year-round, and the consequences for their actions are neither their fault nor their responsibility.

These are the people who gorge themselves every day with whatever brand of poison suits them, namely food. Then they whine about the repercussions while denying accountability.

Instead of working off the costs of their binging, they want a quick fix. They want to sue McDonald's for making them morbidly obese, then pop a Cortislim pill so they can have six-pack abs while still eating 10,000 calories a day.

Unfortunately, the numbers of these people have grown exponentially in recent years. Center for Disease Control numbers show that in 1990 there wasn't a state that had an obesity rate as high as 15 percent of the population. But today there are only four states in the country that have an obesity rate of fewer than 20 percent.

Obesity has contributed to a number of other health problems. The National Institute of Health says that Type 2 diabetes rates (which can be related to obesity) have increased nearly 50 percent just between 1990 and 2000.

Even though the problem has reached epidemic proportions, people still choose to live in a fantasy world where what they eat and how much they eat could not possibly result in weight gain.

Instead of consuming less or exercising more, they would rather have a tummy tuck surgery or take expensive diet pills.

By resorting to these alternatives, they are absolved from facing the root of the problem head-on. They don't have to admit that they brought this upon themselves, and they don't have to work to rid themselves of the aftermath of their actions.

Although many of these people claim to use surgeries as a way to get a "do-over," vowing to change, most who have surgery don't. Changing a lifestyle to include a workout routine and moderation in consumption are much more difficult than a quick-fix solution. Thus, the latter is most often chosen.

In many ways this quick-fix mentality is a result of our lack of work ethic and our refusal to accept responsibility, but it is also a strong proponent of those characteristics. By creating such easy "solutions" to the problem, it has simply exacerbated the situation, creating a perpetual downward-spiraling cycle.

This doesn't only apply to the closet binge-eaters of the world; it extends to include other things that can also be taken in extremism: alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and financial spending.

People will drink until their livers are shot, expecting that a new one can easily be put in its place. People spend constantly, then wonder why they are suddenly bankrupt.

Because of the abundance of our nation, we have become accustomed to getting what we want. As a result our ability to exercise reasonableness has vastly deteriorated, along with our ability to accept the consequences of our actions.

We need to get back to reality. It's time to start enjoying the indulgence that the holiday season brings just once a year.

[Reach columnist Jeff Dickson at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.]