Christmas has come and gone, and we are moving on to the new year. I hope your celebration was everything you wanted. Boxing Day is an interesting day. When I was young and in my teens, Boxing day was a day that was a time for visiting relatives or friends that we did not see on Christmas Day. My parents would dress up and we would go off for an afternoon of visiting. In our case, we went to my parent's friends in town and my parents would spend the day drinking and talking with their friends while the children would be forced to hang out with kids we never hang out with normally.
My wife and her family experience a similar but different experience each Boxing Day. For them, Boxing Day was a day to visit with cousins and relatives who had not made it to their big Christmas Day celebrations.
As newly married couples do, we sought to find a way to deal with both families around Christmas. What I realized looking back is that we came from two different cultures around Christmas and Boxing Day. I found it hard, not in a bad way, to get used to my the culture my wife and her family held dear at Christmas.
My family celebrated Christmas in a small way, with a small (a maximum of 5 people) family dinner. My wife's family held a large Christmas feast, with never less than 30 people, all relatives in attendance. Boxing Day was a time to visit all of the other relatives who could not make Christmas, and this was achieved by having a great aunt or cousin hold a potluck drop in the afternoon (which lasted until late evening).
New Year's Day, was another round of visiting after a big family party, which was always held at my wife's parents' house. New Year's day was a time for visiting all the relatives again. It was a hectic time and it became our culture when our kids were young.
Over time as people became older, the traditions started to fade. People died, became ill, could not travel, the reasons were real and over time we lost the tradition of the big family gathering at Christmas. I miss it.
Boxing Day is now an opportunity to line up at the stores for the biggest sale of the year. The day is not the same. Do you have any family traditions that have changed over the years?
My wife and her family experience a similar but different experience each Boxing Day. For them, Boxing Day was a day to visit with cousins and relatives who had not made it to their big Christmas Day celebrations.
As newly married couples do, we sought to find a way to deal with both families around Christmas. What I realized looking back is that we came from two different cultures around Christmas and Boxing Day. I found it hard, not in a bad way, to get used to my the culture my wife and her family held dear at Christmas.
My family celebrated Christmas in a small way, with a small (a maximum of 5 people) family dinner. My wife's family held a large Christmas feast, with never less than 30 people, all relatives in attendance. Boxing Day was a time to visit all of the other relatives who could not make Christmas, and this was achieved by having a great aunt or cousin hold a potluck drop in the afternoon (which lasted until late evening).
New Year's Day, was another round of visiting after a big family party, which was always held at my wife's parents' house. New Year's day was a time for visiting all the relatives again. It was a hectic time and it became our culture when our kids were young.
Over time as people became older, the traditions started to fade. People died, became ill, could not travel, the reasons were real and over time we lost the tradition of the big family gathering at Christmas. I miss it.
Boxing Day is now an opportunity to line up at the stores for the biggest sale of the year. The day is not the same. Do you have any family traditions that have changed over the years?
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