As I grow older, Christmas spirit seems hard to find anywhere. I’ve looked in all the normal places, but seem to come up short.

We grew up watching movies that are all about Christmas being this magical holiday that brings people together and makes you think about life. Now that we are older, everyone just starts to think about how much money they’re going to spend and what presents they want.

Black Friday was created to be the Friday after Thanksgiving, but now stores open the day of Thanksgiving. Instead of being home with their families, employees are forced to work with the promise of extra pay. People fight and kill others just for a certain gift that they had their eye on. Since when is a Christmas gift worth taking someone’s life?

Stores increasingly make the holidays more materialistic and about the money causing people to overlook the true focus. Starting in October, stores have decorations everywhere but don’t truly give off that holiday feeling.

Growing up, I’ve become used to watching Christmas classics with my family, making hot chocolate and drinking eggnog, but is that really what the holiday is about? As I get older, it seems Christmas has changed and it’s not as magical as I remember but was it ever really magical? Maybe the Christmas we envision is really just some illusion that we believe because of how the movies portray it.

This is the time of year when we’re supposed to be in a happy, “jolly” mood but now people dread it. They start to think of how much money they’re going to have to spend and the stress that comes along with it all. Christmas seems like it’s become completely commercialized.