Holiday parties aren't quite the same once you get older. The blindingly vibrant cartoons on repeat in the basement no longer appeal to you, and suddenly, the kid's table is not as roomy as you once remembered. Suddenly you are moved to the land of small talk and hors d'oeuvres, a land previously only seen in glimpses when looking for your parents.

This land of adults was where I found myself on New Year's Eve. I was wearing a classy sweater and socializing with the best of them, the most socially graceful an introvert like me could be. More than that, these neighbors who once held me as a baby were actually giving some consideration to what I said as if I was an actual adult with intelligent opinions.

Wait a second, I am an actual adult.

But that was the funny thing; I didn't feel like an adult. I felt like three little kids stacked on top of each other and wearing a trench coat, like in a cartoon. My social aptitude wasn't enough to convince me that I was, in fact, an adult. That I wasn't a secret agent, infiltrating the ranks of adulthood to learn their secrets.

Well, I think I've found it. The big classified secret of grown-ups is that there is, in fact, no such thing. There is a magical transformation that happens on your 18th birthday that turns you into a real, functioning, bona fide adult. It seemed to me, from my perch between the fruit platter and this mini sausage, that every single one of these adults was also hiding a scared and awkward kid inside them, just like me. Essentially, all you have to do to be an adult is act the part. The kid in you is always going to be there.

Had the realization that adults are just people, and not these powerful entities, come to me when I was a little kid, my childhood may have been very different.

Have any funny holiday party stories? Share them in the comments below!