Like many of you, I was shocked when I heard about “Christmas Adam”. Maybe you weren’t shocked and you’ve been celebrating this for your whole life, but here’s the story of how I learned about it, and what the tradition actually is:

In December 2020, I posted to the Christians Who Curse Sometimes Instagram page asking people to share their unique Christmas traditions. One anonymous account sent in “My family celebrated Christmas Adam (The day before Christmas Eve) by eating ribs together”

I laughed, I thought to myself “What a unique tradition for that ONE family”. So I shared it, thinking people would find it interesting.

What happened next shocked me:

I got hundreds, yes, HUNDREDS of DM’s saying “What?! my family does this too” and “I thought this was just my family”. Being surprised at how many families responded, I posted a poll asking Christians who grew up celebrating “Christmas Adam”

10%. Yes, 10% said they celebrate.

1 in 10 Christian families admitted to celebrating Christmas Adam in some way. Some shared that they cooked up ribs, others shared that it was a day where they all take a trip to do last minute shopping, others said their mom would cook up an apple-based dessert to represent the fruit in the garden, some said they do small gift exchanges.

One church in Chattanooga has even added a Christmas Adam church service to their sermon schedule

However, they all shared something in common: They all thought they were alone in calling it “Christmas Adam”

So, I took it upon myself to ask our Instagram community to decide on some “official” ways to celebrate Christmas Adam, so we could take this bizarre holiday and celebrate it together.

Here are the official ways to celebrate Christmas Adam:

1. Cook up ribs for dinner in honor of the rib God used to create Eve.
2. Enjoy an apple-themed dessert representing the fruit of the garden
3. Since Adam was given the task of naming all the animals, we celebrate by doing the same. Everyone gets a new name, and families rename their pets for the day.

Whether you decide to celebrate or not, just be reminded that there are always new and unique ways to build community, and sometimes that can mean embracing a really bizarre holiday