Ash
Hey, you won’t believe this. Mom just told me that British people celebrate Boxing Day right after Christmas. That sounds like my kind of holiday.
At first I thought people put on gloves and whacked each other around on Boxing Day. Then mom explained it’s not like that at all. It’s more likely about giving gifts to servants. Huh? Who has servants these days?
Me and mom are reading up on Boxing Day because our British neighbors are having a party tonight. We’ve looked at tons of stuff on the web, but it all comes out the same. Nobody knows for sure how Boxing Day originated or why it’s called Boxing Day.
Some people think you take your boxes of unwanted Christmas presents back to the store on Boxing Day. Nope. That’s not it.
Other people think it’s an old custom that goes back to the middle ages when rich people had servants. The unlucky servant had to work on Christmas but got the day after Christmas to visit family. The rich people gave the servant a box of stuff – clothes, food, presents, money – to take home with them.
But there’s this really nasty version of Boxing Day from ‘Factmonster.com.’ Here, read it for yourself.
“The Feast of St. Stephen also takes place on December 26. St. Stephen was one of the seven original deacons of the Christian Church who were ordained by the Apostles to care for widows and the poor. For the success of his preaching and his devotion to Christ, St. Stephen was stoned to death by a mob.” I don’t even want to think about that.
I told mom let’s us make up our own Boxing Day rules. So here’s what we’re gonna do. Mom will take all the leftover boxes and hide them around the house. Each box will have its own little treat. Us dogs will have a couple of minutes to find the boxes and gobble the treats.
Nellie goes first. She has a good nose but can’t see, so she gets a head start. Jack goes next ’cause he’s timid and won’t know he can have the treat when he finds it. Mom will have to go with him to tell him it’s okay.
I’ll let Tess go third. She’s got such a great nose it won’t take her long to grab her loot. Then mom will reload the boxes and I’ll eat my way through all the good stuff. If I miss one, Tess will be sure to cover for me.
I like this holiday stuff. You can make up your own rules so everybody has fun. You decide what you think Boxing Day means. I’m going with the boxes loaded with treats!