Christmas is forever, not for just one day, for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf. – Norman Wesley Brooks
All right, readers in Commonwealth countries; today is your turn. Back on the day after Thanksgiving (now widely referred to in the United States and part of Canada as “Black Friday”) I scolded American readers about fighting crowds for bargains at overhyped sales “events”, and today it’s your turn. As explained in my column of one year ago today, the day after Christmas is called “Boxing Day” in the UK and many of her former colonies, and was for many centuries a day for giving charity; it was “the day on which English churches opened their alms boxes to the poor, the day on which servants were allowed to ‘box up’ the remains of Christmas feasts and take the day off to visit relatives, and the day on which tradesmen came by to collect their ‘Christmas boxes’ from families who wished to give them such gifts”; it’s even the day on which Good King Wenceslas was reputed to have gone out into the snow to help a poor man gather firewood. But now it has, like the day after Thanksgiving, degenerated into a time for the greedy to help themselves to “bargains” they don’t need.
And so, at the risk of being labeled a nag, I’m going to once again urge my readers to stay away from all this hype. I myself have pointed out many times that holidays evolve over time, and new traditions supplant the old; I realize that it’s absurd to expect modern city-dwellers to go masking or wassailing, but surely those who don’t need to work today can find something better to do with their time than assisting “big box” merchants in clearing out their overstock so they don’t get assessed inventory taxes on anything still in the store come January 2nd. How about visiting family, or calling old friends one hasn’t seen in a while? How about just relaxing at home, playing games or watching favorite movies? That’s how we spend ours; my husband says he often enjoys the day after holidays more because I’m not rushing about like a madwoman preparing a feast singlehandedly.
As the carol reminds us, Christmas was traditionally a twelve-day festival which ran all the way to January 5th (Twelfth Night). And though we no longer live in an agrarian society wherein most people have the luxury of doing nothing but celebrate for nigh on two weeks, very few of us are so busy that we need to be in a hurry to cut the holiday short, either. Modern commercial Christmas is all buildup, so much so that for those caught up in the hype the day itself can seem anticlimactic; by Boxing Day many people (and most companies) are ready to clear away the remnants, fold up the decorations, discard the Christmas trees and move on to the next thing. But it doesn’t have to be like that; if we can be festive for a month (and more) leading up to the day, what’s the harm in eleven days more? Christmas comes only once a year, and in my opinion it seems a bit rude to rush a guest out practically as soon as he arrives.
“madwoman preparing a feast singlehandedly” I helped with the yams. 😉
True, and you carved the turkey as well. 🙂
And took care of the stuffing, one presumes.
😉
As if businesses would grant us a 12 day holiday at this time of the year! In pagan days the white berries of the mistletoe were thought to be the sperm of the Sky Father. So of course anyone standing under mistletoe was asking to be kissed, if not more.
I’ve been wassailing – to a tree in my backyard. The tree loved it.
“The tree loved it.”
As evidenced by it having er, uh, nope, I can’t write it. The pun is simply too bad.
Some puns are just too bad to leave alone…..
\/\/ 😉 😉 8-D
\/\/ell Almost…
My family tells me I’m a scrooge because I tell them christmas is supposed to be about the birth of the christ, not an excuse to waste shitloads of money on useless chinese made junk presents.
Mrs. Stick haunts the $2 shops for months before christmas (I shit you not!) so she can fill up stockings full of crap. Inside, the house is covered in a horde of santas, reindeer and snowmen – which is really strange considering it’s the middle of summer here.
I did buy some milk on Boxing day. The last of the big spenders.
great stories, made me go and read lots about the winter solstics. (spelling?)
I agree, though for a slightly selfish reason.
My birthday is January 5th and so my family decided upon my birth to celebrate Christmas/Yule the traditional way- we don’t put away decorations and such until January 6th, El Dia de los Reyes. Whenever I mention my birthday, I take pains to remind people that Christmas/Yuletide actually goes until that day or the 6th, not the day after Christmas.
That said, some years I totally got screwed on presents. Ah well. The tiny problems of a Holiday Baby.
Boxing Day this year my sister, mom and dad, nephew, and I got into a car and followed an interstate for hours on end. Though I was home in time to, I did not lift my weights, and I didn’t feel that guilty about it.
Laura, Tracy, and my nephew have yet to open their gifts from me. In my nephew’s case, it’s because the people I ordered Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 from didn’t deliver it before Christmas. Ah, well. I did tell him what he’s getting, and he’s old enough to understand that it isn’t really his uncle’s fault. And it is what he wanted.
I left three slices of marshmallow pie in Oklahoma, and brought the other pie home for nieces and nephews who didn’t go with us to the Sooner State.