Boxing Day and Other Holiday Remnants

If you have a calendar at your desk, have a look at December 26^th. Most calendars show that day as Boxing Day. Not many of us here in the US have the slightest clue what Boxing Day is. Yet every year I see it on the calendar when I’m trying to figure out how many shopping days are left until Christmas.

Sadly, it has nothing to do with the sport of boxing. It would be great if it did. As I’ve written in the past, there are a great many life lessons we can learn from the sport of boxing. Lessons we need as we reflect on the passing year and brace for the next.

Wikipedia, usually an all-knowing, undisputed source of truth, is uncertain about Boxing Day. One theory says it was when the wealthy lords and ladies of old-timey England gave out little presents to the domestic servants who, of course, had to work on Christmas day. But even that seems like a best guess of semi-professional historians. It might just as well have been the day that Santa went 12 rounds with the Easter Bunny for the Best Holiday Character Ever championship.

Whatever the origin or meaning, I like Boxing Day. In fact, December 26^th is my favorite day of the year. Sure, Christmas is sometimes a pleasant day. If all goes well you might get some nice presents, have a good meal with loved ones. But there is a lot of pressure in the run up to December 25^th. The logistics, the preparations, the expectations that I for one am certain I will never live up to. It’s all incredibly stressful.

But on December 26^th it’s over, 6 to 8 weeks of pressure is finally over. You can let down your guard and go back to normal day-to-day life, while still basking in the residual glow of yesterday’s good cheer. You don’t have to get dressed up and sit in a stiff dining room chair for hours, trying to remember not to swear around Grandma. On December 26^th there are leftovers in the fridge that you can just eat on the couch in your sweatpants while watching “Die Hard” which is the best Christmas movie ever (again according to Wikipedia).

Here’s a few more fun facts I discovered in my exhaustive research on December 26^th:

(Guess where I did all my research? It starts with a “wik” and ends with an “ipedia”.)

December 26, 1919 – the Boston Red Sox trade Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees thus creating the Curse of the Bambino. You have to imagine that the Red Sox owners sent the Babe packing on the day after Christmas on purpose as some sort of spiteful message. They could have just as easily waited until January. We deserved the Curse for all those years.

December 26, 1939 – music producer Phil Spector is born. Spector produced hundreds of classic songs that shaped modern music including “Be My Baby” by the Ronettes, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” by the Righteous Brothers, “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School” by the Ramones, and “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” by John Lennon, a Christmas classic.

December 26, 1944 – the Relief of Bastogne. Considered a turning point in World War II, General George Patton’s Third Army overcomes winter storms and superior numbers to free surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium. This scene in the movie “Patton” has a real Christmas-y feel to it. Definitely watch it after “Die Hard”.

December 26, 1947 – Red Sox legend Carlton Fisk is born. Great as he was, even Pudge could not help the Sox break the Curse. Maybe being born on this day was a curse within a curse.

December 26, 1986 – British actor Kit Harington is born. He played Jon Snow on “Game of Thrones” where he won the “Battle of the Bastards”. The next day it snowed in Winterfell, because winter was coming, Father always promised. The show really hammered home the Christmas theme on that episode.

We can see now how important December 26 is, in history and as a much-needed function of the holiday season. Babe Ruth and John Snow and the Ramones are all trying to show us that there is eventually relief from the pressures of the holidays. Just as Patton saved the 101^st Airborne Division in the frigid Ardennes Forrest, Boxing Day is coming soon to end the holiday siege for us all.

So from my family to yours, I wish you all a Happy Boxing Day and a Merry New Year.