Traditions offer new Boxing Day ways
Some Canadians choose family time, ski slopes or reading a good book
For some, Boxing Day offers a chance to reconnect, relax or enjoy the great outdoors.
Shopping is never on the to-do list for Nizam Walji and his family. For the past 20 years, Walji has embraced a lively Boxing Day tradition started by “Grandma Thornton,” his wife Tamra’s late grandmother.
Each year, the couple and their children, ages 16, 14 and 12, drive from their Markham-Unionville home to a huge family reunion in southwestern Ontario.
Walji joined the festivities, which have been happening for more than 50 years, the first year he and Tamra began dating.
“We are a bicultural family,” says Walji, 46, who moved to Canada from Tanzania when he was 2 years old. “For me, this was insight into a traditional small-town Ontario holiday. I didn’t skip a beat. I felt at home right away.”
The event is held in a rented venue, usually a curling club and, most recently, the arena in the Cambridge mall.
Inside, the festive spirit rises to full crescendo as more than 75 people gather to catch up amid mountains of food, drink and music.
“Someone’s playing the piano, someone’s playing the drums, someone’s playing the bass,” says Walji, who works in digital marketing.
“We sing along and the kids do a performance. We play hockey, skate, the kids are running around. Then after that comes the eating part. It’s one of those scenes you see out of an old movie.”
The potluck celebration is now mostly organized by “the aunties” (Tamra’s aunts) and sees everyone bringing their favourite dishes. The mountain of food is then topped off with a few turkeys cooked by locals and served with all the trimmings.
“The entire gang sits down and eats a big family meal,” Walji says.
“A full course, apps, half a dozen main dishes, desserts galore and an open bar. No one goes home hungry.
“Family comes in from far and wide. Dinner always begins with a grace song that the family has been reciting for decades. The remarkable thing is this has continued for so long in pretty much the same manner.”
The Walji family is not alone in their desire for quality time after the often frenzied pace of the holidays.
While others are out hunting the shops for Boxing Day deals, travel writer Caleigh Alleyne, 26, skips the shopping-mall mayhem and hits the slopes with her parents and two brothers.
Since childhood, Dec. 26 for Alleyne and her family meant driving from Toronto to the family cottage in Upstate New York, just a six-minute walk to the ski runs at Holiday Valley.
The getaway was inspired by Alleyne’s mother, an avid skier who introduced her love of the hills to her husband and kids early on.
“My dad was born and raised in Barbados, so he learned to ski out of love for my mom,” Alleyne laughs.
“Skiing and spending time outdoors was a way for my family to connect and bond over a sport we loved.
“Although it’s an individual sport, it was our time as a family to disconnect from work or video games and explore together. It gave us a chance to catch up on the chairlifts and push each other by racing down the hill.
“And even though my dad wasn’t the biggest fan of skiing, he was always our support system, shuttling us from the chalet and back to lessons or making sure we had something warm waiting when we got home.”
Growing up in Cabot Trail in Cape Breton, N.S., where the closest mall was 90 minutes away, Boxing Day became a day of rest and reading for 29-year-old communications specialist Ashley MacInnis.
“Boxing Day was always the day I read all the books I got for Christmas,” she says.
“No joke, I would sit down in the big, comfy chair in the living room with four or five novels and pound through them from morning to night.
“Now that I have a child of my own, I usually spend the day helping with any toy assembly and reading his books to him, though I do love to blast through a grown-up book if I can.”
As for Alleyne, her parents have sold the cottage, but last year, they booked the old spot for a nostalgic return on Family Day. The space was a tad more crowded, since Alleyne’s older brother now has three kids of his own.
“Boxing Day has changed a bit,” she says.
“We don’t go skiing as often on the day, but we still try to incorporate skiing into other vacations.
“As the family expands, Boxing Day has become the one day we can all get together.”