Today is the 26th of December.
“Boxing Day.”
Yes, you’ve probably heard of it. But if you’re an American like me, you’ve also probably wondered for most of your life what in the world that’s supposed to mean.
All I could ever figure was that it must be the day for crushing, stomping on, crawling through, tearing up, and trashing (or recycling) all the boxes and boxes and BOXES left over from unwrapping Christmas presents.
Once you’re past about the age of ten though, that hardly seems exciting enough to make a whole holiday out of it.
I did hear a comedian once suggest that it must be the day everyone gets into fights trying to return all the junk they were given the day before. He said it goes lik
e this:
“Hi, I’d like to return the fruitcake.”
“Sorry, we don’t take it.”
Wham! “Happy Boxing Day!”
However, for those of you who (like me) think that works much better in a comedy routine than in real life (and don’t want to spend this obscure holiday in jail for assault), I finally found another option.
And once again, I learned it from the Brits.
If you read last week’s post, you’ll know what British “Christmas Crackers” are. Explosive little gift dispensers that they pull apart on Christmas day.
Well, apparently, the British have at least have come up with something to do on Boxing day. They pop all the left-over Christmas Crackers, and enjoy a few more paper hats and “rubbish jokes.”
So if you want something to do next Boxing Day, other than throw away left-over wrapping paper, get into fights, and sleep off the results of a Christmas sugar high, you might consider ordering some Christmas crackers, and see how you like them.
Actually, I might do that myself.
And IF by any chance you happen to be one of the few Americans who actually does something special on Boxing Day already, please do share it with the the rest of us.
…Because we’re getting tired of just playing with cardboard. 😉