Western Morning News (Saturday)
Why I won’t be joining in Boxing Day sales
TODAY’S the day I give a huge sigh of relief, mentally putting up the “closed” sign and relishing the chance to hunker down for a few days. It’s the only time I allow myself to do exactly what I please, and relish having a couple of indolent days between Christmas and New Year.
My siege mentality means I’m not worried about running out of food for at least six months. Though I’m looking at the 8kg turkey and wondering who I was expecting to feed. I’m also not sure that there are enough recipes out there to use it up.
Despite lockdown, there’s still been a low key build up – that sense of planning, buying, cooking for Christmas. The house has been dressed in her finery and as ever we’ve had to employ a lumberjack to put up the huge tree. I’m not sure why we’ve carried the tradition this year – probably as a refusal to give in to the dreaded “C” – defying all efforts to have our lives completely re-shaped by it.
For some, the mad run-up to Christmas isn’t enough to satiate their shopping desires and people are happy to keep up the pace by rushing out to the Boxing Day Sales, online or in person. For me, that period between Christmas and New Year is a time of reflection, of relaxing, of enjoying the remainder of that bottle of Scotch, walking the dog and sitting in my PJ’s on the sofa with the fire alight watching anything that moves on the tv.
I relish those in-between days between the end of the old and the beginning of the new year. Family time today is especially precious and I treasure the banter, love and sheer presence of those around me. All the retail therapy in the world wouldn’t bring me that joy.
In olden times, people would queue overnight, longer even, to get into a sale to buy something. I’d watch, bemused as TV reports showed people surging like a human tsunami through shop doors as they open on Boxing Day. It filled me with horror. Fighting over bargains, pushing through the crush. No not for me. And probably not for anyone this Christmas. It will be sales online. Even that doesn’t interest me. By today I’ve had enough of retail, online or otherwise. I feel saturated with the material element of this time of year and want out of it as soon as I can.
I have no doubt ardent sales goers could regale me with grand pianos they bought for £20 or designer handbags they got for a cinch. I have, occasionally, ventured forth into the world of reduced retail, but my experiences haven’t been anywhere near exciting or as money saving. I once saw a greatly reduced dress which I tried on. It was for summer and sashayed a little too much for my liking. The saleslady eyed me up and down and said, “That looks really great on you”. So of course, I bought it. When I got it home I read the label. “Maternity”. Great. I’ve got exotic shoes bought on a whim in the dying embers of sales, but unless I’m going to star in a pantomime I can’t envisage when I’ll ever wear them. I once bought a coat that made me look as if I’d been fighting on the Russian front. It would have fitted a large bear and half the army. A complete rush of blood to the head and I clearly have a real body image problem.
Just as grim as buying in the sales is the prospect of joining a line to the Customer Services counter that runs from here to Coventry to change something your best pal bought you and you hate.
Boxing Day – it’s a strange name. Mind you today it’s pretty apt when you look at all the online boxes that must be being broken down to dispose of round the country. Perhaps we should re-name it Amazon Day. Boxing Day has been around for hundreds of years and it’s been suggested that its name did actually come from discarding boxes at one time. Other theories seem more likely. One explanation is that it comes from the days when servants were given their presents in boxes on the 26th – the first working day after the 25th. The tradition of giving gifts for service extended beyond servants too, and included tradesmen such as milkmen, butchers and so on.
Another theory is that it’s named after the custom of priests opening alms boxes in churches after Christmas. The poor and needy benefitted from the monies collected on the run up to Christmas and apparently some churches still open these boxes on Boxing Day.
December 26th for the Evans family means the drawbridge is up and will be so for the next few days. So Happy Christmas to you all, enjoy your day, and if you get drawn into Christmas sales, good luck to you. I won’t be standing in your way for a bargain.
TV reports showing people surging like a human tsunami through shop doors on Boxing Day filled me with horror. Not for me...