今天是聖誕節25號，懶洋洋的起床後，就開始了我的電視馬拉松。
看了the simpsons辛普森家庭，那剛巧是老的影集，在美國就看過了，沒想到片尾居然有英國版的special！
Christmas messages from the Simpsons.
輪到homer時，他裝扮成聖誕老人，唱了一段祝福的詞。最後一句就是：what the hall is boxing day? 哈哈哈 真的好好笑。事實上，我問了教會裡一個太太pam知不知道所謂的boxing day為神麼叫這個名字，boxing day在做甚麼...？他的回答更好笑：運動的日子？看運動節目的日子？(boxing=拳擊，所以有此聯想)
在美國，26號就是shopping day。每個人都摩拳擦掌大清早出門。但是在英國，聖誕節在26日還沒有結束，大家還是繼續過節。boxing是國定假日，在日不落帝國勢力所及，加拿大，澳洲，紐西蘭，都有放boxing day。
美國沒有所謂的boxing day。這又是另一個英國土產的聖誕品。在以下的網頁你們可以看到所謂的boxing DAY對英國人來講就是聖誕三部曲之一：聖誕夜，聖誕節，boxing day。有的人這一天就像是他們的初二一樣，拜訪另一邊的家人。有的時候就是在這一天拜訪那些需要幫助的人，實際上來說，就像台灣會有塞紅包給郵差，清潔工...等的情形，感謝對方這一年來的辛勞。
http://homepages.tesco.net/~derek.berger/holidays/boxingday.html
Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. It falls on December 26th, which is also St. Stephen's Day.
St. Stephen was a little known saint who achieved eternal fame by being the first Christian to be martyred for his faith, and he met his death by stoning.
Boxing Day is so called because on this day it was the customary for tradesmen to collect their Christmas boxes or gifts in return for good service throughout the year. Also, it included giving money and other gifts to charitable institutions, and the needy.
The holiday may date from as early as the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is not known. It may have begun with the Lords and Ladies of England, who gave there Christmas boxes/gifts to their servants on December 26, or maybe by priests, who opened the church's alms (charity boxes), and distributed the contents to the poor and needy.
In England, this day has become part of the celebrations, of being with family. A day to visit other relations, and to have a rest from the day before, to play fun games. Some families, buy a new game each year, but still bring out the old favourites :-)
For some it is good to have the 2 days, as on one of the days you can visit with your parents, and the other day your inlaws :-)
St Stephen is the patron saint of horses, so Boxing Day became associated with horse-racing and hunting. Other sports are also held on this day like football and rugby.
Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day is the Christmas season for us here in England.
I have had so many emails asking me what we eat on this special day, we always have the left over turkey from the day before, but we always prepare fresh vegetables and roast potatoes and all the trimmings.
I know you are all going to ask me what are 'trimmings' :-) well they are things like tiny sausages rolled up in bacon strips, chestnut stuffing for example, also cranberry sauce and bread sauce...a few little extras on the plate to make the dinner special.
It is traditional to have ham, but I do not like ham (my husband does, but he is more than happy to eat another 'Christmas dinner' :-))
Some people have turkey and cranberry sandwiches, we usually have this, but usually on Christmas day in the eveing, if we are still hungry.
It is a good day, to change the pace, have a more relaxing day, especially for the "cooks" in the family. Also a day to have something different to eat, some people have cold ham as the main dish to a cold buffet type meal. This way, putting together a buffet of cold foods, everyone can just help themselves to what they want, and how much they want. Mainly it is a day we try not to cook, as the day before is always very busy in the kitchen, and it is nice not to expect the lady of the house to be in the kitchen on this second day of Christmas, and to spend more time with family and friends.
The postman and dustbin men/refuse men, get their boxing day money on their last delivery day before Christmas starts, not everyone gives them money, some give mincepies, and some people do not give anything, as it is a very old tradition. I have in the past given mince pies... homemade of course :-)
I have also received emails asking me if we give gifts on this day, well I have already explained about money to the needy earlier on this page, but for us in my family I sometimes put a tiny gift into a box as one of our own traditions...I have some pretty Christmas boxes I always use for this.
Also I am asked, what to give people that you visit on this special day, well, possibly a basket with a Pointsettia in, with a big red bow.
And another idea, is take biscuits (cookies) or chocolates or maybe a bottle of wine as a gift, depending on the time of day or event.
Happy Christmas, and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday.
