On this side of the pond, the day after Christmas is Boxing Day. I've always seen this marked on calendars, but had not the slightest clue as to what it was. Now that I'm in the land of its origin, I decided it was time to do some research. It turns out Boxing Day is called so because charitable organizations went around asking for donations . . . one website sites that you offer gifts from your Christmas box. However, it seems it's actually a celebrated holiday, maybe kind of an extension of Christmas? Because Christmas was on a Saturday this year, Boxing Day is today! Apparently it's a good day for shopping, kind of like Black Friday, and there's a full day of watching Rugby and "football." I think I'll make chicken soup.
(For more insight check out this site.)
I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas; we enjoyed a nice evening with friends and I learned a great deal about the Dutch and Icelandic Christmas stories (it is fascinating, in Iceland there are 13 Yule Lads that are quite mischievous and the Dutch story is that Santa Claus arrives on December 5th from Spain by a great big ship filled with gifts, he then mounts a white horse and sets out to deliver presents!).
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