For myself, Christmas has continuously been my favorite holiday. The entire season, filled with family, friends, festivities, classic movies and special foods, always brings a sense of overwhelming joy to my life.

However, as I’ve grown older, this special “feeling” of Christmas joy has taken a turn, and not necessarily in a good way at all. I can’t quite put my finger on it. I’ve talked with my best friends and even my 24-year-old brother to try to make some meaning out of this change in feeling in relation to the holiday season.

I’ve seen countless tweets ranging from, “I’ve never felt less Christmassy in my entire life,” to, “Christmas doesn’t feel like Christmas anymore and that makes me sad.” So, I know it’s not just me, which, in a sense, makes me feel better because it adds a sense of normalcy to my emotions, and that would tend to comfort anyone.

But I guess the overwhelming question is, "Is this just a part of growing up?" Is the childlike joy of waking up on Christmas morning full of nothing but pure bliss, something that disappears overtime? I guess so.

You don’t expect it to happen so quickly either; growing up. One minute you’re seven years old and your dad is teaching you to ride your bike for the first time on a summer afternoon and the next you’re 20 years old and the weight of the real world has begun to crash down over you.

I remember being a child and beginning to make my Christmas list in October. Not even in a greedy sense, but simply because I was so excited for the season to begin. I can recall running downstairs, throwing open the large bins in which we stored our decorations, and covering the house from head to toe in garland, and not even being asked too, just out of pure enthusiasm.

I don’t know where this enthusiasm went. This also makes me think that this could possibly be my own fault. Maybe I’m just not trying hard enough. Maybe I’ve allowed myself to stop caring as much. I’m beginning to realize why they have so many holiday movies about children showing adults the true meaning of Christmas and reviving the Christmas spirit within them. I’m becoming that adult, and I don’t like that.

Now, this doesn’t mean I’m a pit of sadness around the holidays. Not at all. It’s just different. I mean of course a lot of things have changed since being a child, and in a lot of phenomenal ways. But the joy of Christmas should not be one of those changing feelings. That should remain happy and innocent forever (at least in my opinion).

I think the feeling of Christmas is one piece of our childhood that we can cling onto as we grow older. And the true meaning of the season does tend to become blurred as we grow up, and I’m just beginning to recognize this now.

Do you feel as if this is just an inevitable piece of growing up? And if so, do you think there’s any way to preserve the wholesome joy from which Christmas sprouts from? I sure hope so. Because this whole "getting older" deal? I don't think I like it so much right now.