Happy Boxing Day !

(December 26th)

What is Boxing Day ???

( info taken from Wekapedia)

Origins

Boxing Day is a traditional celebration, dating back to the Middle Ages, and consisted of the practice of giving out gifts to employees, the poor, or to people in a lower social class. The name has numerous folk etymologies^[3]; the Oxford English Dictionary attributes it to the Christmas box; the verb box meaning: "To give a Christmas-box (colloq.); whence boxing-day."

Folk etymologies

The more common stories include:

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

• In feudal times, Christmas was a reason for a gathering of extended families. All the serfs would gather their families in the manor of their lord, which made it easier for the lord of the estate to hand out annual stipends to the serfs. After all the Christmas parties on 26 December, the lord of the estate would give practical goods such as cloth, grains, and tools to the serfs who lived on his land. Each family would get a box full of such goods the day after Christmas. Under this explanation, there was nothing voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the manor was obliged to supply these goods. Because of the boxes being given out, the day was called Boxing Day.

• 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.

• In churches, it was traditional to open the church's donation box on Christmas Day, and the money in the donation box was to be distributed to the poorer or lower class citizens on the next day. In this case, the "box" in "Boxing Day" comes from that lockbox in which the donations were left.

• Because the staff had to work on such an important day as Christmas by serving the master of the house and their family, they were given the following day off. As servants were kept away from their own families to work on a traditional religious holiday and were not able to celebrate Christmas Dinner, the customary benefit was to "box" up the leftover food from Christmas Day and send it away with the servants and their families. (Similarly, as the servants had the 26th off, the owners of the manor may have had to serve themselves pre-prepared, boxed food for that one day.) Hence the "boxing" of food became "Boxing Day".

"Canada

In Canada, Boxing Day is observed as a holiday, except (in some cases) for those in the retail business. Boxing Day and the days immediately following are when many retail stores sell their Christmas and retired model products by holding clearance sales. Some shoppers will line up for hours at night (sometimes before midnight and after midnight on December 26) for retailers to open their doors. Except in Quebec, retailers often open their stores earlier than usual, such as 6 or 7 am. Some retail companies internally refer to the sales week after Christmas as the "thirteenth month." (See Boxing Week.) It is similar to Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, in the United States. Boxing Day 2005 was the single largest economic transaction day ever in the history of Canadian commerce (according to Visa). Individual big box stores can even gross over CAD$1,000,000 on one single Boxing Day.

As an exception, most retail stores are not permitted to open on Boxing Day in Atlantic Canada, nor in some Ontario communities. (The Nova Scotia government eliminated its ban on Boxing Day openings in 2006; however, most retailers voluntarily remained closed. The ban was reinstated in 2007.^[11]) In these areas, most stores offer the same specials on December 27 that they would offer elsewhere on the 26th. This distinction is not well known in central and western Canada.^[12]

^{Well,  we had a good holiday.  We ended up putting up our Christmas tree on Christmas eve.}

^{our decorated door way}

^{up close...}

^{And made my traditional Christmas Eve dinner...perogies ( potatoe and onion filled dumplings)}

^{(before boiling)}

^{(after boiling)}

 ^{You eat these with sour cream and sauted onions. YUM}

^{We went to a candle light service on Christmas eve.  I was only up till 11:30 wrapping presents.  I hosted the family dinner on Christmas day and this year there was only 11  people.  It went very nice and boy was I happy to have running water.}  

^{Tomorrow I will give part two of our holiday.  I pooped and am low on words.  But, I wanted to let you know that I am alive and kicking.}

Blessings and ((hugs))

-Mary

Dec. 25, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Dec. 26, 2007 - Happy Boxing Day!!!!

Dec. 26, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Dec. 26, 2007 - Now I understand!!!

Dec. 26, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Dec. 26, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Dec. 26, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Dec. 26, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Dec. 26, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Dec. 26, 2007 - Greetings

Dec. 26, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Dec. 27, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Dec. 27, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Dec. 27, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Dec. 27, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Dec. 27, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Dec. 27, 2007 - Untitled Comment