Every Christmas now for years, I have found myself wondering about the point of the celebration. As the holiday has become more ecumenical and secular, it has lost much of the magic that I remember so fondly from childhood.

Strieber frames Christmas as a personal barometer of cultural change. The quote contrasts an intimate, childhood sense of “magic” with an adult experience of dilution: as the holiday broadens to include many faiths (“ecumenical”) and becomes more commercial or civic (“secular”), its meaning feels less anchored and therefore less enchanting. The wondering “about the point” signals not hostility to inclusion but a loss of narrative center—ritual without a shared story can feel like spectacle. The passage also captures a common modern tension: nostalgia for a coherent tradition versus the reality of pluralistic public life, where celebrations often shift from sacred observance to generalized seasonal sentiment.