Christmas Adam

A few years ago, our oldest, Adam, came to me and said, "Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Do you know what that makes today?...Christmas Adam!" It was unexpected and funny, and now it's kind of stuck. If Christmas Eve feels like a 2nd holiday beside Christmas, then Christmas Adam makes us feel like it's a 3 day holiday now. We picked up Tim at work on Friday afternoon and we have him through the morning of the 26th, so it's a bit longer than usual, but with holidays in there, it'll fly by so fast! We did all the "have to do" things, return his library audio books, stock up on truck meals and supplies, do all his laundry, etc. Tim even made a point to spend all day yesterday - the last Saturday before Christmas, mind you - shopping for everyone. Traditionally over the past 20 years, he makes the money, I do the Christmas shopping, and he's really only had to shop for me, and maybe his father (he's hard to get gifts for and Tim knows what he has and can use better than I do). This year, Tim wanted to be an active participant in the kids, so he went shopping when he got home. He had a part in getting something for each of the kids, and me too, I'm told. It will be an interesting Christmas. I think we got each of the kids stuff they wanted. Last year was 3 gifts each that they absolutely needed. Not too much "fun" but very appreciated by them. This year, we got gifts that would be a little more fun. They've been through a lot with us over the past few years, and although we didn't really get anything frivolous, at least it's not a Christmas getting boring clothes and shoes. Today we'll go to church, then come home and I'll be baking zucchini bread, cheesecake bars, and cookies for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Tomorrow, I'll be cleaning the house so that Christmas Day can be relaxing. I hope to be done enough baking that I can bring the neighbors a treat. Tomorrow night, we'll finish up by going to church for the Christmas Eve service. Adam, who normally either works, skips church to rest up, or attends a different church, will be joining us. We haven't gone to church with him since before we moved 8 months ago. That will make me happy! Christmas morning we won't have to get up early since we have no little kids anymore, but we'll probably be up by around 9. Between 10 and 10:30, Tim's parents will be joining us. They're down here this week staying with the Burkes, but they'll be here for Christmas morning. (That reminds me, I better bake something for them too!) We'll be able to open all our gifts, then rummage through our stockings, take some time to relax and visit, then we'll have a nice dinner together - the 7 of us. Without our kitchen bench, it's a bit difficult to feed us all around the table. We'll have to have the 3 teens at the bar and us 4 at the table. It'll be a bit strange, but we only own 4 chairs, 1 low folding chair, and 3 high bar stools. Not sure how else to do it. Anyway, at least we're together. The plan is to have lamb, gravy, potatoes cubed and baked with Rosemary, Garlic, and Olive Oil, stuffing, cranberry sauce, garlic cheddar biscuits, green bean casserole, peas, and corn. For dessert, we'll have pumpkin pie, pistachio pudding pie (Jordan's idea), cheesecake bars, cookies, and zucchini bread. After Tim's parents leave, we'll spend the rest of the evening relaxing, enjoying Tim's last night home til mid-January, probably watching movies together (except Adam who has to sleep in the afternoon and early evening to go into work at midnight). This Christmas will definitely be very different from last year, which was actually very nice, but we have so much to be thankful for now. I think the warm feeling will be even better and stronger. I can't wait to start today - maybe that's why I was up at 6 am?