Boxing Day

Today is Boxing Day in our house.

And, no, it's not a day where we don gloves and get out any aggravations we might be harboring against each other.

It's more of a family day.

While it's not an American holiday, it would have been one for Stuart if he still resided in England, so we began the tradition anew for him a few years ago.

Basically, Boxing Day means another huge meal -- this time with lots of English goodies, including Christmas crackers (see below) and Christmas pudding.

Mmmm....

* * *

A brief history from Wikipedia:

Origins:
Boxing Day is a traditional celebration dating back to the Middle Ages, of which the primary practice is the giving of gifts to employees, the poor, or to people in a lower social class. The name has numerous folk etymologies.

Christmas Box:
A Christmas box is, in English tradition, a clay box used in artisan shops. Apprentices, masters, visitors, customers, and others would put donations of money into the box, like a piggy bank, and then, after Christmas, the box would be shattered and all the contents shared among the workers of the shop. Thus, masters and customers could donate bonuses to the workers without anything direct, and the employees could average their wages. The habit of breaking the Christmas box lent its name to Boxing Day. The term "Christmas box" now refers generally to a gift or pay bonus given to workers.

The Oxford English Dictionary attributes it to the Christmas box; the verb box meaning: "To give a Christmas-box (colloq.); hence the term boxing-day." Outside the Commonwealth, the holiday is sometimes called "St. Stephen's Day."

It was the day when people would give a present or Christmas box to those who had worked for them throughout the year.

In England many years ago, it was common practice for the servants to carry boxes to their employers when they arrived for their day's work on the day after Christmas. Their employers would then put coins in the boxes as special end-of-year gifts. This can be compared with the modern day concept of Christmas bonuses. The servants carried boxes for the coins, hence the name Boxing Day.

* * *

From our Christmas crackers:

Q: What has a bed but does not sleep and a mouth but does not speak?
A: A river.

Q: How did the human cannonball lose his job?
A: He got fired.

Q: What does the word minimum mean?
A: A very small mother.

Q:What do you get if you cross a stereo with a refridgerator?
A: Cool music.

Q: Why didn't the skeleton go to the New Year's Eve party?
A: He had no body to go with.

Q: Where should a dressmaker build her house?
A: On the outskirts.

Q: Who is the most famous married woman in America?
A: Mrs. Sippi

Q: How do snails keep their shells shiny?
A: They use snail varnish.

Q: Why don't ducks tell jokes when they are flying?
A: Because they would quack up.