Boxing Day

[robinmckinley]

 
I still think it’s a funny name. You all know about Boxing Day, don’t you? British (or Commonwealth, says my British dictionary, but I wouldn’t’ve said it was a big item in Canada or Australia, can anybody correct me?) tradition where the toffs go around bestowing largess on the commoners who’ve worked for them over the last year, and the scum had

Comments

[auriaephiala]

We have Boxing Day in Canada. I don't know of *anyone* who uses it as an occasion for largesse or making people feel inferior.

People either a) go shop the Boxing Day sales, or b) recover from and clean up from Xmas or c) use it as an occasion for visiting the friends/relatives they didn't see on Christmas because they were visiting relatives then or d) simply be quiet instead of gregarious. I'm doing all four at various different times today...

I do like having a recovery day after Christmas, which always seems to get too frantic in the prep stages. Today we have a new jazz album playing on the stereo and it's beautifully relaxing.

[robinmckinley]

Yes! The day after Christmas *is* a holiday, and some people call it Boxing Day. That's all. But where the tradition came from seems to be still alive and breathing here.

[muuranker]

I must say I recognise the colonial Boxing Days more than yours! I cannot remember giving gifts on Boxing day as an adult. As a child (30 years ago or so) I remember gifts being given to the dustmen (rubbish collectors) and paper delivery children. Since we don't have papers delivered, I don't know if that continues. But I've not given any gifts to dustmen (or noticed them hanging around looking for gifts) for a quarter-century.

Boxing Day is just a name, but it has lots of traditions: e.g. it is the day to go to the pantomime (but oddly, not to the cinema). There are numerous 'traditional' sporting fixtures (local "Derbys" - teams from neighboring communities, or the same community), and the Boxing Day Hunt. I guess some of these have been moved from Christmas Day to Boxing Day, as 'the day' itself has been redefined as a family, rather than community celebration. I keep promising myself that I will make time to read Danny Miller's book on the subject of Christmas.

[robinmckinley]

I must say I recognise the colonial Boxing Days more than yours! I cannot remember giving gifts on Boxing day as an adult. As a child (30 years ago or so) I remember gifts being given to the dustmen (rubbish collectors) and paper delivery children

[shakatany]

Word doesn’t recognize prandial! Microsoft might do better to hire literate programmers! No, no, how foolishly idealistic of me!!! Gah I love your humor and always have since I read "Beauty" when it first came out.

I'm not much of a drinker as I stll don't care for the taste of alcohol unless it's buried in egg nog or a pina colata (and then oh my waistline *g*)

Shakatany

PS Happy Boxing or Hampering Day

[robinmckinley]

LOL! As it happens I'm thinking about posting my Favourite Eggnog Recipe for New Year's--my favourite eggnog recipe that I can no longer drink myself. Self torture. Good for the character. :)

And happy Hampering Day to you too. :)

'Nog

[shakatany]

My boss/artistic mentor (AMen for short) found an old Christmas recipe in a cookbook from the fifties he considered taking to a party. It was called "Nog-a-Sake--the relaxing, Asian-influenced beverage that packs an atomic punch!" The recipe calls for a gallon of eggnog, a quart of sake, and "two relaxing barbituates" in a blender. Hysterical, in a creepy, glad-I-wasn't-yet-even-CONCEIVED way.

Re: 'Nog

[robinmckinley]

Scary. Very scary. . . . I'm also not sure I buy it. Sounds like a send up to me. Even in the 50s barbituate addiction was a known real thing.

[blackbear88]

presumably family parties dutifully going for a pre- or post-prandial^^ strolls who conspicuously would rather be anywhere else

:) There was a cartoon in my parents' paper yesterday that featured a holiday gathering in which two family members were attempting to strangle one another, with tinsel flying and drinks spilling; in the background, another family member was saying, "Well, looks like we've been visited by the Ghost of Christmas Honesty again..." Too funny.

Your parking situation at the mews sounds utterly terrifying, drunk or sober.

[deakat]

Boxing Day here in Canada used to be a day to relax (it's a statutory holiday) and eat leftover goodies, but now it's all about lining up at "big-box" stores to wrestle other shoppers for limited quantities of electronic gizmos.

I'm at work, but even though most of our customers are USians, they don't appear to be very active, leaving me a bit of spare time to get caught up on my LJ reading.

[anonymous]

I'm not sure if my Merry Christmas post from last night went through, as lj was behaving very badly at about midnight my time. So belated good wishes to you and the family. And belated thanks for the pumpkin bread recipe, which (as I REALLY LIKE pumpkin) I will be sure to make. By the way, relating to your comment-answer about dairy intolerance, if you can eat yogurt, whole milk yogurt makes a great substitute for buttermilk, sour cream, etc. in baking--I use it all the time

[robinmckinley]

The true SUV is *nonsense.* It's not even very large inside--it's just all about taking up space (and wasting fuel). I don't have a problem with people who drive big vehicles because they have big things to carry.

Made for an interesting cross-country move, though.)

********* I just bet it did! :)

Without diving too deeply into the political maelstrom, I will say that many of us are hoping for MUCH BETTER after the next election.

********** Yes. Us exiles too.

We have had snow on snow here, for a nice change, so we do not have Christmas mud this year. It is all very Picturesque.

********** Aaaugh! Don't ruin my fantasy like that! MN must ALWAYS have white Christmases!!

[anonymous]

We have had brown Christmases for the last two or three years. (Last year I had MUD in January, really offensive because there's supposed to be a break between November mud and March mud.) It made for a depressing landscape. This is much better. Even allowing for the snowmobiles.

Diane

[robinmckinley]

Snowmobiles! Ah! Things I DO NOT MISS!!!!