Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Boxing Day Snow

Today is Boxing Day in the Canada. Although Wikipedia offers various explanations for its origin, it's first listed possibility is that "It was the day when people would give a present or Christmas 'box' to those who have worked for them throughout the year." I'll go with that one because it's pretty well the version that was passed on to me. The custom may actually have its origins in feudal times as an obligation of the lord to the serfs. After being served by his serfs on Christmas Day, the lord would provide them with a box full of "practical goods such as cloth, grains, and tools." It's still an official holiday in this and most countries of the Commonwealth, and it still has to do with merchandise as it is the biggest shopping day of the year.

We don't do Boxing Day that way. For us, it is a day of quiet relaxation after the hustle and bustle of getting ready for Christmas, and we had two Christmases to hustle and bustle for this year. One year long ago, however, Cuppa had the insane notion to take the kids to downtown Toronto on Boxing Day. The crowds were incredibly dense, and we feared to lose our children in the crush. We held on very tight and extricated ourselves pretty darn quickly. Neither Cuppa nor I enjoy the push and jostle of the crowds very much. At the best of times we tend to eschew big malls in favour of smaller shops. Besides, I don't know about you, but we're always pretty broke after Christmas and can't really afford those incredible bargains for stuff that we don't need. Some people claim that they begin shopping for next Christmas on this day but that doesn't appeal to me either. Buying presents is part of the buildup, and I won't be ready to be start getting back into the process for about another eleven months, give or take.

What we do have to help us enjoy this Boxing Day is a modest covering of snow. Much too thin to be called a blanket, let's call it a sheet although that may be not be the best description either because it tends to connote a sheet of ice. Regardless, after several weeks of mild and/or rainy weather which produced a green Christmas for us yesterday, it's rather attractive to look out the window and see the white covering. And really, the snow did come in time for Christmas Day in a way, for it was falling when we left the kids' place at eleven o'clock last night.

I'll probably bore you with Christmas pictures at a later date, but right now I thought I'd share the sheet that covers our back yard . It's pretty enough, don't you think?


Boxing Day Snow

11 comments:

Mary said...

snow! lucky you. there is no snow here in ajax....:(

methatiam said...

It looks heavenly to me. It’s been so long I’ve even forgotten what it feels like to be in snow.

By the way, congratulations on being able to use the word eschew.

There’s an opportunity that doesn’t come up often.

Kila said...

No snow here. My middle son wants to come visit you, since his favorite Christmas gift was a snowboard!

Cathy said...

Oh yes! yes! very pretty. I love the light snow throws around. We were supposed to get an inch or so and it never materialized. I'd love a thin 'sheet' of snow - it's sooo gloomy here. I enjoyed this post and learning the origins and contemporary practice of Boxing Day. Very interesting.

Bonita said...

Eschew...ah-chooooo! Snif. Just the look of snow gets my nose twitching. I'm glad you have a dusting, though...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for clearing up exactly what boxing day is. I had a pal in Australia that tried explaining it to me but I did not get the jest of it til reading this post and following the link you gave me. Thanks so much for being such a good blogging pal. You are one of the best! Happy new year to you and all in your family.

Anonymous said...

I like the way the snow is lying on the trees in your picture.

The news said another big storm is headed for Colorado. I wish they'd share their moisture, we are dry as a bone here in eastern Montana.

Happy New Year!

mreddie said...

Thanks for the explanation on boxing day, I had heard it spoken of but never got around to looking up what it meant. Good photo of your 'sheet' of snow. ec

Anonymous said...

Still no snow here in Muskoka....can you believe it?
kmr

Anonymous said...

ah.. so that is why it is called Boxing Day. I never knew. I think it is lovely that it started snowing on Christmas Day Eve. How very fitting.

methatiam said...

OK, I know this is old news, but I just saw this about Boxing Day and I thought of this post. This too is from the "overheard conversations" website.

IT guy #1: What is boxing day, anyway?

IT guy #2: Well, I Wikipedia-ed it and could only gather that it either has to do with killing birds, beating up servant girls, or selling off Christmas stuff nobody wants.