Boxing Day

When I was growing up, Boxing Day was a day to visit with friends in town. My parents would take us to their friend’s place and while they visited, we would play with the friends’ children, or listen to the adults. It was a relaxed day as I remember it.

When my wife and I married, the Boxing Day tradition continued, as it was part of her family’s tradition as well. Her family was on the mainland, and she had many aunts, uncles, Great Aunts, and Great Uncles and Grandparents to visit. The day was fun, but stressful. We would start out about 11:00 AM to make the first visit by noon in Vancouver. We had a route all planned and most years it went without a hitch. As most newly married couples did, we spent one year with my wife’s family and the next year with mine. My family was on Vancouver Island, so we spent Xmas with my family, returned to Vancouver on Boxing Day and made the rounds to my wife’s family.

Every place you visited had way too much food, and they expected you to eat, drink and make merry, so with a big Christmas meal, a huge boxing day feast, I would gain a lot of weight over the holiday. The other tradition that my wife’s family had was a big family dinner on New Year’s Day. This was a fun time once the effects of the night before had worn off.

Time went on, and my parents passed and my wife’s father passed and we had children. These cosmic events went away. Too bad I miss them, but not enough to bring them back. We now have a small Xmas day and do not celebrate Boxing Day with a massive meal, nor do we have an enormous meal on New Year’s Day. However you celebrate these days, I hope they are all you want and need them to be.