The Night After
Christmas is over but the decorations remain in place – until New Years, a week away. Traffic is light this Boxing Day evening; the Christmas rush to buy … something, anything … is over, the day-after “I don’t want this” returns have been completed or await another day.
The people take a break, preparing for the evening of wild abandon coming soon.
Supposed to be in the upper 60’s and no rain this weekend, so the wife is talking about pulling everything down, get it over with.
I feel a little displused.
Without the son and fambly here it’s like we did a dress rehearsal, but the show didn’t go on. Some how.
Against a wall in the living room is a big stack of “stuff” that I never wanted but now have to figure out what to do with it.
You’ve heard the saying, “What do you get the guy that has everything?”
The flipside is, “What does the guy that has everything do with the stuff people give him?”
Could always donate..
People seem to get angry when they find out you gave their gift away.
I had to laugh at…
We’ll be lucky to make it till 10pm.
I am really feeling blessed today. Never know what the year will bring, but this time there were 9 of us around the table my Grandma bought used in 1940. This was the year the young folks exchanged humorous tee shirts and coffee cups, with a great deal of back and forth banter and fun. Momma wanted a Blackstone grill so we all went together to buy one on the black Friday sale and my brother and I had made a 75 mile run to Tractor Supply after Thanksgiving to pick it up and hid it in his shop until Christmas. It’s always worth it to see her reaction to a surprise.
The traditional Anglican prayer on Boxing Day or St Stephen’s Day (or just the day after Christmas) depending on where and who you are, is:
“Grant, O Lord, that in all our sufferings here upon earth, for the testimony of thy truth, we may steadfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and bless our persecutors, by the example of thy first Martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succor all those that suffer for thee, our only Mediator and Advocate.”
It is a day during which you are meant to share what you have with those less fortunate. In commonwealth countries food and unwanted presents are boxed and given to the needy. In Europe, it is a day for visiting family and friends. In the USA it’s a shopping for discounts or “returns” day. As a child my parents obliged me and my brothers to relinquish a favorite Christmas gift to be given to the church for poor children. That was a hard one to swallow.
The birds, dogs and horses all got special treats too on Boxing Day. And it was a day for hunting and shooting.