There’s been some debate at my house over what the heck is Boxing Day, which just so happens to be TODAY!
My sister says it’s the day we’re supposed to box up all of the Christmas decorations. I say it’s the day you give the servants gifts and the day off.
Since I neither have servants nor the inclination to pack up our (sad) little Christmas tree, we settled for sleeping late, flying the London Eye, and taking a boat ride on the Thames with my family!
Not a bad Boxing Day if you ask me… whatever it is.
Boxing Day is a public holiday in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and countries in the Commonwealth of Nations with a mainly Christian population… It is based on the tradition of giving gifts to the less fortunate members of society. Contemporary Boxing Day in many countries is now a “shopping holiday” associated with after-Christmas sales.
Boxing Day dates back to past centuries when it was the custom for the wealthy to give gifts to employees or to people in a lower social class, most especially to household servants and other service personnel.
2 Comments
December 26, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Gets even more confusing if Christmas Day falls on a Friday or a Saturday, as technically Boxing Day is the first weekday after Christmas! These days, however, that’s mostly ignored in common usage, and Saturdays and Sundays would normally be called Boxing Day too.
December 28, 2008 at 6:47 pm
While in Nairobi, we celebrated Boxing Day by going to the Ostrich Races at Ngong Race track.