As Sabri Lamouchi prepares for his first Christmas in England, the 'gift' no manager wants is drawing near.
Lamouchi will have been fully aware how gruelling the Championship fixture list is when he took the Nottingham Forest job in June.
Now the former Rennes and Ivory Coast boss faces the realities of nine games before January 2 - nine games which could decide which way the compass points heading into the new year.
Lamouchi will hope it points north, with Forest looking up the table and still in the thick of the promotion race.
On Wednesday, the Reds head south, to take on QPR and a familiar face , as they look to ensure sure they head towards the festive programme in good shape.
Lamouchi says the condensed amount of games in the league is 'too much', but admits there is nothing he can do about it when asked if he was now fully used to the rigours of managing in a relentless competition after starting so impressively at the City Ground.
"I have a choice? I need to adapt myself and find the right solutions," he said.
"I work with the players at home and away. It's a great pleasure to work in the Championship.
"Three games in a week and 10 games in five weeks is too much. It's a lot of games.
"We need to find the right way to be ready for all games."
Forest are on the road for the second time in five games as they look to follow up Saturday's 0-0 draw at Bristol City with another positive result
With a trip to London to come, Lamouchi says focus rather than flogging is order of the day when it comes to training in order to get the better of QPR.
"It's about recovery. (Monday) was match day minus two," he said.
"On Monday we worked with specific players and on Tuesday we work towards specific areas at QPR.
"They have qualities but we must find their weakness and disturb them."
Lamouchi liked what he saw from his players at Ashton Gate in terms of attitude and character after Ryan Yates was sent off early in the second half.
He will hope to back that up with attacking quality as fifth placed Forest seek a fifth away win of the season.
QPR have only won three times at home, suffering a further three defeats, but Lamouchi is expecting a tough game against a team playing under a manager known for his free-flowing football.
"It will be very tough. It's a small stadium, a small pitch and a good team," he said.
"They play very attractive football. They score a lot and have good strikers.
"We need to be ready with the same spirit and maybe, with more quality on the last pass, we can do something different.
"We know which kind of team we will face. The QPR manager used to be Forest manager. He plays very positive, attractive football.
"We will face a tough team. We need to be ready for that.
"It will be the same against Cardiff and then Millwall. Every single game in the Championship is a new story but they are all tough."
To get through this 'story', Forest must overcome the absence of Yates, who starts a three-match ban. Joao Carvalho, John Bostcok and fit again Alfa Semedo will all hope to come into the side.
Yohan Benalouane and Carl Jenkinson are also fit again, but Tobias Figueiredo and Matty Cash will be confident of keeping their places at the back.
