catapult magazine

catapult magazine
 

Vol 12, Num 17 :: 2013.09.20 — 2013.10.03

 
 

Christmas Adam

Everyone’s heard of Christmas Eve but what about Christmas Adam?

In our neighborhood over the last three years, we have developed a tradition especially for the older kids.  Each year the night before the night before Christmas we gather all the school age kids to celebrate at our house.  The kids dubbed it “Christmas Adam” since it comes right next to Christmas Eve. 

We see this as a chance to let other parents get in last-minute shopping and present prepping while our kids get to help us host their friends and make some great homemade memories.  We invite the kids to come over at 6:30 p.m. filled up with dinner and bearing a snack to share.  We provide hot drinks and popcorn and a lot of fun.

Each year we provide a puzzle to work on throughout the evening, a food item to make and take home to give to their families, a craft item to make and share, and Shrinky Dink ornament-making.  The kids arrive, hang out, work on the puzzle and eat until everyone has arrived then we break into groups. 

The ornament project takes place around the kitchen table, with stacks of classic Christmas stories to trace pictures from and lots of markers and colored pencils with which to draw.  Each kid gets a quarter sheet of Shrinky Dink plastic to create whatever they want and then before they head home, they get to watch it shrink in the oven and tie a ribbon through the hole so they can hang it on their trees.

Meanwhile, at the kitchen island, my husband supervises the food-making.  We’ve made hot cocoa mix and chocolate covered pretzels, as well as popcorn and cranberry strings to give as a present to their families.  For crafts, we’ve made coffee filter snowflakes, and fleece scarves sewn on the sewing machine and then hand fringed by the kids, with a little help from me.

The evening always ends late, around 10:00 or 11:00, with the kids watching a classic Christmas movie while my husband and I clean up.  We have around 16 to 20 kids who show up (we supply four of them ourselves), which means it’s loud and glorious chaos.  Each year, it’s one of our kids’ favorite events.  As I write this, my 15-year-old son reminds me that his friends start asking about it when school starts, “Is it happening this year? Christmas Adam, your house, right?”

If you’re looking for a new Christmas tradition, consider a version of “Christmas Adam” for your family and community.

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