Is it just me or does Christmas just not feel like Christmas anymore? I'm not feeling all "Ba Humbug" about it but I am feeling distant from it. Why? It's just not the same anymore.

When I was little, My grams, brothers and I would go to church. The second you walked in, the steps to the main part of the church were lined with poinsettias, all the way up to and flooding the alter. On the altar, there would be huge Christmas trees strung with lights and stars atop them. The whole church would be decked in red, green, gold and silver.

It was a long mass because it was bi-lingual, but I didn't mind. The music sounded better in Spanish when every voice in the congregation would rise up in one tongue and the sound vibrated through your chest.Every seat was packed, you were elbow to elbow with people you may have never met before. The prayers were music in themselves when you could hear them being spoken in two languages simultaneously yet loudly and proud all with the hope they reach the same person.

On our way home, we'd listen to Christmas music on the radio, each of us singing our loudest. We'd go home, start preparing for family and a large meal. Family would sit around the table and chatter. We'd open gifts on the couch and laugh. Wed sit around until the sun went down, talking until it was bedtime for us little ones.

I miss that sometimes but as you get older, everyone's lives get busy. People go missing from the table because they've moved or started a family or are working. The church is emptier know and that many flowers and trees are no longer in the budget.

Christmas music annoys me because it starts being played in October and gets old by the time Christmas rolls around. There's no magic anymore, in my opinion. It's kind of vanished. It's become more about ourselves than the holiday. It's a shame, I used to love Christmas.