Christmas Adam

Christmas Adam is an unofficial holiday celebrated on December 23, the day before Christmas Eve. Since Christians believe Adam was created before Eve, it has emerged as an unofficial name for the day before Christmas Eve. Christmas Adam creates further anticipation of Christmas Day.
History
As the eve before Christmas Eve, some would call this day "Christmas Eve Eve", but independently across the United States families have begun to call December 23 Christmas Adam. The Los Angeles Times was the first to mention "Christmas Adam" in print with a funny opinion piece in their December 23, 1906 edition.
The first known celebration of "Christmas Adam" on record was the family of Donna Ryan of Boston, Massachusetts, who about 1960 began the annual observance of Christmas Adam with their Catholic family of eight children.
There are records of several other American families celebrating Christmas Adam by the 1980s, and by Christmas Adam 2005 the practice gained a reference in the online Urban Dictionary. For Christmas Adam 2011, a discussion thread was held on Sean Hannity's official website, and a website dedicated to Christmas Adam was launched. By 2012 Twitter showed thousands of Americans referring to December 23 as Christmas Adam.
Traditional practices
The holiday has become a celebration that school is out for the holidays, that family is arriving for the holidays (as many would rather not travel on Christmas Eve), and that the highly anticipated Christmas Day is merely two days away. With many extended family traditions already in place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Christmas Adam is becoming a popular day for gift exchanges and family parties that simply do not fit elsewhere in the already crowded holiday schedule. Many families use the day to watch holiday movies in pajamas, wrap gifts, or other casual Christmas observances and preparations.
These new holiday traditions and others are discussed by authors Susan A. Lieberman and Ace Collins.
Religious Significance
Christmas Adam, for most celebrants is less about Adam, and more an extension of Christmas, with the clever name of the day before Christmas Eve more of a coincidence of nomenclature. The Nation News of Barbados claims Christmas Adam is a "Trini expression" (meaning from Trinidad), and is an acknowledgement of Adam being created before Eve.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu