Have a happy Boxing Day! Say, what?
We’ve just had a great musical day as this is written – our Key Singers annual Christmas concert, which included the KP Middle School choir, and standing room only attendance! Followed by a Christmas music bluegrass jam at Longbranch Church.
The monthly event in Longbranch stopped last spring when participation and attendance became low. We and others were delighted when the Christmas event was announced, and we hope it will become an annual event, if not as often as we’d like!
Boxing Day, Dec. 26, has assorted traditions associated with it. The day is also St. Stephen’s Day for the first Christian martyr, known for charitable acts.
When I first learned of Boxing Day, it was about the “hired help” who had their Christmas holiday with their own family, and often took gifts representing their work. An example was a cook or cook’s assistant who would carry a cake or other baked goods home.
Other references suggest the employer gave the worker a box with small gifts, money and leftovers from Christmas dinner to share with their families.
Another idea is that was the day churches gave the contents of their alms boxes, collected during Advent, to the poor.
For me, it’s the usual day to mark my new calendars with important dates such as birthdays, anniversaries, and these days, coming up known medical appointments!
A Christmas tradition for us is an annual letter to friends and family. The first one was brief, but rhymed. As the family grew, we had more to write about, but for many years, it was in rhyme, with one year just a card; although hand-crafted, several of our correspondents complained!
Recently, I’ve used photos but no rhymes, and we love to receive such from others.
We have a post in the main living area (living room, dining and kitchen share it.). This post has become my Christmas photo place, and I leave them up all year until the first one appears the next season.
The family loves it, checking out the people they know and often sharing memories.
Letters go into a notebook, left out for about a month, so we (and family) can go through them more than once sometimes.
So comes a New Year, and as usual, we wonder what it will bring, hoping for the positives but knowing there will be some negatives, too.
Weather is a top current concern, the health of many we know, and the future of this country and our world. We’re disappointed that political discussion is such a loud and often dangerous exchange. A friend has a poster that I like — If only we would tell the truth — and I would add “all of us!”
Why can’t we just ask questions and state our thoughts without having someone’s blood pressure go sky-high? There’s a hope — that more people can become more reasonable and civilized when sharing, questioning and explaining differences of opinion.
No resolutions come from this quarter anymore. Having ongoing ones regarding health, friendships, downsizing, house upkeep and repairs, we don’t need new ones. However, come January, we do consider what we’ll plant in our garden, and specific people we want to be sure to spend time with.
We have just celebrated 61 years of “wedded bliss” and look forward to many more. Our family expands — our eighth great-grandchild is expected in March.
A special “find” this year from A New Year, by William Arthur Ward: “Pray for Peace, Plant a tree, Sing more joyous songs.”
This story was originally published December 25, 2019 at 12:00 AM.