Boxing Day Traditions

[DaveH]

When I was a kid (so I am talking age 5 to 10, which to me would be late 50's and first half of the 60's) we had a set routine for Boxing Day.

Christmas day also had it's routine, but this must have been fairly typical of every family,-

Get up, (early)

Open a load of prents Santa had left

Late breakfast

Spend morning playing around with presents while religious stuff and childrens hospital visits were on TV.

Eat a massive Christmas dinner which mum had been cooking all morning

Watch the Queens Speech on TV

Fall asleep for a while after such a massive meal

Wake up and eat more for tea

Watch a load of TV Christmas specials on one of the 2 available channels at the time

Go to bed (late)

But Boxing Day also had it's routine, I think this may have been unique to us but would be interested to know what others did.

Get up (late this time)

Have a bath / good clean up

Entertain yourself for a few hours

Have a dinner of stuff left over from the previous day (mainly turkey and stuffing in sandwiches)

Get in car and go to Grandads (my dads dad)

Wait until my dads relatives arrive, my uncle, aunt and cousins

Spend several hours socialising with relatives we see every boxing day, but only infrequently through the rest of the year.

Eat another large meal, put on by grandma, but consisting of cold meats, sald items, plenty of bread and butter, followed by cakes, biscuits and a cup of tea.

Exchange more presents, this time between relatives, just like Christmas Day all over again.

Watch even more Christmas Specials

Finally make our way home for another late night.

We had a similar ritual on New Years Day when one of my mothers family, one of her sisters, did something similar. In fact my aunt bought 2 turkeys for the festive season, one for her own immediate family on Christmas / Boxing day and one for New Year when she invited all her extended family of brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces.

What did others do on Boxing Day?

was it similar to my experience or did you do something different?

I ask this, having a family which has just "flown the nest", having spent the first Christmas day / Boxing day alone with my wife ever, - although we do intend seeing all our family in the next few days.

[Guest transit]

.....when i lived on Handsworth , i know this was one Boxing Day tradition - which still goes on every year outside the church !

http://www.handsworthsworddancers.org.uk/

[DaveH]

.....when i lived on Handsworth , i know this was one Boxing Day tradition - which still goes on every year outside the church !

http://www.handsworthsworddancers.org.uk/

That's a brilliant one transit

I never knew anything about this before and I don't live more than a couple of miles away at most.

I would like to have seen that but unfortunately by the time I got round to reading the posts this morning I had just missed it.

Something to bear in mind for future years.

[mickjj]

Mine was almost a carbon copy of Daves(swap Grandma for Grandad) except if The Owls were playing at home we would be off to the match before the visit

[Guest SuzyC]

When I was a kid (so I am talking age 5 to 10, which to me would be late 50's and first half of the 60's) we had a set routine for Boxing Day.

Christmas day also had it's routine, but this must have been fairly typical of every family,-

Get up, (early)

Open a load of prents Santa had left

Late breakfast

Spend morning playing around with presents while religious stuff and childrens hospital visits were on TV.

Eat a MASSIVE Christmas dinner which mum had been cooking all morning

Watch the Queens Speech on TV

Fall asleep for a while after such a MASSIVE meal

Wake up and eat more for tea

Watch a load of TV Christmas specials on one of the 2 available channels at the time

Go to bed (late)

But Boxing Day also had it's routine, I think this may have been unique to us but would be interested to know what others did.

Get up (late this time)

Have a bath / good clean up

Entertain yourself for a few hours

Have a dinner of stuff left over from the previous day (mainly turkey and stuffing in sandwiches)

Get in car and go to Grandads (my dads dad)

Wait until my dads relatives arrive, my uncle, aunt and cousins

Spend several hours socialising with relatives we see every boxing day, but only infrequently through the rest of the year.

Eat another large meal, put on by grandma, but consisting of cold meats, sald items, plenty of bread and butter, followed by cakes, biscuits and a cup of tea.

Exchange more presents, this time between relatives, just like Christmas Day all over again.

Watch even more Christmas Specials

Finally make our way home for another late night.

We had a similar ritual on New Years Day when one of my mothers family, one of her sisters, did something similar. In fact my aunt bought 2 turkeys for the festive season, one for her own immediate family on Christmas / Boxing day and one for New Year when she invited all her extended family of brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces.

Christmas Day seems to be the same for most fortunate people, eating, present opening, more eating, plus the meagre tipple etc.. When I think of the wine consumed nowadays, it was considered very risque to have a glass of Bordeaux, or more probably Sauterne. Boxing Day was different and I actually preferred it and still do. It is a relaxing holiday. We used to vary according to the weather, it could have been a trip out to Ringinglow to walk the moors and explore the streams, usually finding a sheep victim along the way... maybe a climb up the cliffs, was it Frog´s Mouth or Toad´s Mouth?. A look around the old quarry at the top, in those days there were still some old wagons to play with. If it was wet then we played board games, Monopoly (of course), or Totapoly (horse racing), Scrabble and my favourite Taxi - anyone remember that? The aim was to take a fare round London for the most money and get the most tips. Bubbles Dimpleby always paid the most (she was obviously a showgirl!!!) Boxing Day grub was the best ever, cold turkey, bubble and squeak made with all the left over carrots, sprouts and peas mashed into spuds with loads of butter (expect my heart is paying for it now), garnished with cold stuffing, bread sauce and chestnut puree. Finished off with a big trifle.

By the way, this is Emily, made by my mother during the Sheffield Blitz and she has adorned our Christmas Tree ever since. Sadly she has lost a leg, so has to be cunningly disguised in the tree, no longer pride of place at the top.

May I wish you all on Sheffield History a very happy and prosperous 2011. (who´d have ever thought we would be living in these scifi dates!!)

[DaveH]

Mine was almost a carbon copy of Daves(swap Grandma for Grandad) except if The Owls were playing at home we would be off to the match before the visit

Yes, not being a sports fan I had almost forgotten about that, - there were a lot of sporting fixtures that took place on boxing day.

[DaveH]

It is a relaxing holiday. We used to vary according to the weather, it could have been a trip out to Ringinglow to walk the moors and explore the streams, usually finding a sheep victim along the way... maybe a climb up the cliffs, was it Frog´s Mouth or Toad´s Mouth?.

Toads Mouth

I know people who do like to go out for this sort of walk on Boxing Day, claiming the exercise allows them to work off the excesses of the previous day.

A group of friends at work always try, weather permitting, to meet up on boxing day and go out for this sort of walk. I have been invited to join them a few times but the sort of people that go tend to be single, divorced, otherwise unattached and have family that live miles away from them, too far away to comfortably visit.

Obviously having a close family, all of which socialise at Christmas puts a tight constraint on this sort of Boxing Day activity.

[vox]

We often go walking on Christmas Day rather than Boxing Day

Early morning 'till about midday.

Loxley valley this year.

[Guest SuzyC]

Toads Mouth

I know people who do like to go out for this sort of walk on Boxing Day, claiming the exercise allows them to work off the excesses of the previous day.

A group of friends at work always try, weather permitting, to meet up on boxing day and go out for this sort of walk. I have been invited to join them a few times but the sort of people that go tend to be single, divorced, otherwise unattached and have family that live miles away from them, too far away to comfortably visit.

Obviously having a close family, all of which socialise at Christmas puts a tight constraint on this sort of Boxing Day activity.

Thanks for posting the photo Dave. Our Boxing Day walks were always a family affair when I was a kid, with aunts, uncles and cousins all taking part. If we were lucky the men of the family would vote to call at a pub on the way home, a rare treat for us kids to have pop and crisps in the carpark lol

[DaveH]

We often go walking on Christmas Day rather than Boxing Day

Early morning 'till about midday.

Loxley valley this year.

Seems a funny day for people to go out vox, especially if they have young children in the family.

However, I bet it is a nice quiet day to go out with few other vehicles on the road or other people around.

Sounds very peacefull

[DaveH]

Thanks for posting the photo Dave. Our Boxing Day walks were always a family affair when I was a kid, with aunts, uncles and cousins all taking part. If we were lucky the men of the family would vote to call at a pub on the way home, a rare treat for us kids to have pop and crisps in the carpark

Picture is off the net Suzy, it is not one of mine.

However I use it in a 2 hour science powerpoint presentation I do about optical illusions.

I even use a Sheffield History image in it of the "ghostly face" at the bottom of the escalator down to the hole in the road.

Stopping at a pub with treats like that for kids only happened at Christmas / New Year if we went on a coach trip with a pub outing (usually the Arbourthorne Hotel or the Punch Bowl) to a pantomime (often Doncaster, - remember seeing Les Dawson there in Mother Goose in about 1968 -70)

Only other time this happened was in summer when we went on a pub trip outing to the seaside (usually Cleethorpes as it was nearest). It took ages to get there and ages to get back mainly because of the number of "beer stops" (for the men) "toilet stops" (for the women) and "treat stops" with pop and crisps for us kids.

[vox]

Seems a funny day for people to go out vox, especially if they have young children in the family.

However, I bet it is a nice quiet day to go out with few other vehicles on the road or other people around.

Sounds very peacefull

I know it does but we go straight round to see the grand-kids for the afternoon then back home at tea time to do our Christmas dinner .

Not always you understand, but usually something on those lines.

Sometimes we go away altogether for christmas. Egypt last year.

[Guest SuzyC]

Picture is off the net Suzy, it is not one of mine.

However I use it in a 2 hour science powerpoint presentation I do about optical illusions.

I even use a Sheffield History image in it of the "ghostly face" at the bottom of the escalator down to the hole in the road.

Stopping at a pub with treats like that for kids only happened at Christmas / New Year if we went on a coach trip with a pub outing (usually the Arbourthorne Hotel or the Punch Bowl) to a pantomime (often Doncaster, - remember seeing Les Dawson there in Mother Goose in about 1968 -70)

Only other time this happened was in summer when we went on a pub trip outing to the seaside (usually Cleethorpes as it was nearest). It took ages to get there and ages to get back mainly because of the number of "beer stops" (for the men) "toilet stops" (for the women) and "treat stops" with pop and crisps for us kids.

Don´t mention pantomimes, I have always hated them ever since going to the Lyceum to see David Whitfield in some dreadful show when I was about 7 or 8. Horror of horrors the spotlight fell on me and he started singing some rubbish song and invited me up on stage. I refused, as I happened to be wearing my sensible lace-up school shoes for some unknown reason, when most little girls were wearing cuban heels or some such fashion of the time. Luckily he didn´t press and I was so glad because the kids who were enticed up on stage had to sing "nick nack paddywack" and I didn´t know any of the words, indeed hadn´t even heard of the song!! Needless to say I have always hated pantomimes and David Whitfield to this day, even then I was a 65 Special fan, more into Gene Vincent than the English cover versions B)

[Guest SuzyC]

I know it does but we go straight round to see the grand-kids for the afternoon then back home at tea time to do our Christmas dinner .

Not always you understand, but usually something on those lines.

Sometimes we go away altogether for christmas. Egypt last year.

It sounds brilliant to do different things every Christmas instead of sticking to the old routine year in, year out. Although memories are based upon our families´ traditions of less expansive times. We don´t have grandkids, so, theoretically, should be able to please ourselves more, however, our numerous animals mean we are fairly tied now and walking them is one of our great pleasures and here you can walk from home in the countryside anywhere, there are no boundaries, ending up in one of many tiny, family run bars, even in the remote outbacks. Certainly works up an appetite which is sated with pleny of tapas to accompany your vino. When living in the UK we did enjoy Christmas in Cornwall, you can´t beat walking a deserted beach on Christmas morning, paddling in your wellies and watching the hardy surfer boys. B)