The day after Christmas is widely known as “Boxing Day” in many areas of the world including United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Ghana, Switzerland, Germany, Greenland, The Netherlands, New Zealnad, Hong Kong, Nigeria, Trindad & Tobago, Jamaica and countries in the Commonwealth of Nations. In these countries “Boxing Day” is a bank and public holiday yet here in the United States it is not officially recognised.

The origins of Boxing Day are widely debated but it is generally acknowledged that Boxing Day was traditionally a day on which the servants had a day off from their duties. Because of this the gentry would eat cold cuts and have a buffet-style feast prepared by the servants in advance. In modern times many families will still follow this tradition by eating a family-style buffet lunch, with cold cuts rather than a full cooked meal. It is a time for family, parlour games and sports in the UK.

The traditional recorded celebration of Boxing Day has long included giving money and other gifts to those who were needy and in service positions. The European tradition has been dated to the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is unknown and there are some claims that it goes back to the late Roman/early Christian era; metal boxes were placed outside churches used to collect special offerings tied to the Feast of Saint Stephen.  

In the United Kingdom it certainly became a custom of the nineteenth century Victorians for tradesmen to collect their “Christmas boxes” or gifts in return for good and reliable service throughout the year on the day after Christmas. The exact etymology of the term “Boxing” is unclear, with several competing theories, none of which is clearly true.

The establishment of Boxing Day as a defined public holiday under the legislation that created the UK’s Bank Holidays started the separation of ‘Boxing Day’ from the ‘Feast of St Stephen’, and today it is almost entirely a secular holiday with a tradition of shopping and post-Christmas sales starting.

While Boxing Day is 26 December, many retailers who hold Boxing Day Sales will run the sales for several days before or after 26 December, often up to New Years Eve.  Canada’s Boxing Day has often been compared to the U.S.’s Black Friday, right after Thanksgiving,  and in 2009 a number of major Canadian retailers had their own Black Friday promotions in order to discourage shoppers from crossing the border.

Boxing Day is also a big sporting day around the globe and in both England and Scotland, it is traditional for the Premier League and Scottish Premier League respectively, as well as the lower divisions and Rugby Football  leagues, to hold a full program of football and Rugby matches on Boxing Day. Traditionally matches on Boxing Day are played against local rivals. This was originally to avoid teams and their fans having to travel a long distance to an away game on the day after Christmas Day. It also makes the day an important one in the sporting calendar.

In horse racing, there is the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park Racecourse in Surrey which is the second most prestigious chase in England, after the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The association of Boxing Day with sport in early village celebrations has led to the folk etymology that Boxing Day is traditionally associated with boxing , although the word box can mean a gift or gratuity, especially one given at Christmas, especially in Britain.

Australia holds the first day of the Boxing Day Test match  in Melbourne at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the start to the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.

It’s a big day…but in our household we tend to just take it easy…relax with  book, watch a movie and enjoy a glass of wine or two… what’s your like?

‘Thanksgiving’ is based upon the story of the Pilgrims and their thankful community feast at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The Pilgrims who set sail from Plymouth (England) on a ship called the Mayflower, on September 6, 1620 were, in fact, fortune hunters bound for the resourceful ‘New World’. The Mayflower was a small ship crowded with men, women and children and also, of course, the sailors working on the ship. Aboard were passengers comprising the ‘Separatists’, who called themselves the “Saints”, and others …. whom the ‘Separatists’ called the “Strangers”.

After land was sighted in November, following 66 days of a lethal voyage, a meeting was held and an agreement of truce was worked out. It was called the ‘Mayflower Compact’ and the agreement guaranteed equality amongst the members of the two groups. They merged together to be recognized as the “Pilgrims” and elected John Carver as their first Governor.

Although the Pilgrims first sighted land off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, they did not actually settle until they arrived at a place called Plymouth. It was Captain John Smith who named the place after the English port-city in 1614 and who had been settled there for over five years. Thus, it was here that the Pilgrims finally decided to settle as Plymouth offered an excellent harbor and plenty of resources. An added bonus was that the local Indians were also non-hostile.

However, their happiness was very short-lived because they were ill-equipped to face the winter on this estranged place and were ravaged thoroughly!

As luck would have it they were somehow saved by a group of local native Americans who befriended them and helped them with food. Soon the natives had taught the settlers the technique to enable the cultivation of corn and how to grow and store (for hard days) the native vegetables. By the next winter they had raised enough crops to keep them alive. The winter came and passed by without much harm. The settlers knew they had beaten the odds and it was time to celebrate.

They celebrated it with a grand community feast wherein the friendly native Americans were also invited. It was very similar to the Harvest Feast, the Pilgrims used to have in England. The new recipes entailed “corn” (wheat as the Pilgrims called it), Indian corn, barley, pumpkins and peas, “fowl” …. especially “waterfowl” ….. deer, fish and yes of course, the wild “Turkey”.

However, the third year was real bad when the corn got damaged and Pilgrim Governor William Bradford ordered a day of fasting and prayer and very soon ….. the rains followed! To celebrate, on November 29th of that year, it was proclaimed a day of ‘Thanksgiving’. This date is believed to be the real beginning of the present ‘Thanksgiving Day’.

Today ‘Thanksgiving Day’ is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of every November …… this date was set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 and approved by Congress in 1941. Earlier it was the last Thursday in November as was designated by the former President Abraham Lincoln. However, sometimes the last Thursday would turn out to be the fifth Thursday of the month and that falls too close to Christmas! That left businesses even less than a month between to cope with these two big festivals and hence the change.

Congratulations to Jenson Button,29, who wrapped up the World Driver’s Championship in Brazil today. It’s been a great season for Jenson as he won 6 of the first 7 races and now becomes the 10th British Formula One world champion.

He joins an illustrious list:

Mike Hawthorn

1958 World Champion, aged 29

Graham Hill 

1962 and 1968 World Champion. Aged 33 when he first won the title.

Jim Clark 

1963 and 1965 World Champion. Won first title aged 27

John Surtees 

1964 World Champion, aged 30

Jackie Stewart 

1969, 1971& 1973 World Champion. Won first title at age of 29

James Hunt

1976 World Champion, aged 29

Nigel Mansell 

1992 World Champion, aged 39

Damon Hill 

1996 World Champion, aged 36

Lewis Hamilton 

2008 World Champion aged 23

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930’s, 1940’s, 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle..

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds , KFC, Subway or Nandos.

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn’t open on the weekends, somehow we didn’t starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren’t overweight because……

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY ,
No video/dvd films,
No mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms……….WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
Lawsuits from these accidents.

Only girls had pierced ears!

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time…

We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays,

We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Mum didn’t have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on
MERIT

Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes and bully’s always ruled the playground at school.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!

Our parents didn’t invent stupid names for their kids like ‘Kiora’ and ‘Blade’ and ‘Ridge’ and ‘Vanilla’

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO
DEAL WITH IT ALL !

And YOU are one of them!
CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

PS -The big type is because your eyes are not too good at your age anymore!

In a couple of months time Tom Watson, 5 times winner of the British Open, will be 60 years old. Today he almost won the Open yet again and if he had managed to win it he would have become the oldest person to win a major. It didn’t happen unfortunately but the way he played this week, he showed the whole world that there is hope for everyone as you get older.

I don’t use the word “awesome” much…but this achievement, even though he didn’t win,  must surely go down as one of the greatest achievements in sport. Fantastic stuff & congratulations Tom. You’ve nothing to be ashamed of…

Just spent a few minutes reading a report on the best destinations for value. It’s somewhat interesting :

Domestic:

1. Las Vegas

2. Orlando

3. Fort Lauderdale

4. New York

5. Los Angeles

Have to laugh when I read that…obviously there’s some political influence taking place here…I mean how can New York and LA ever be considered places of value with their overpriced hotels, shops, restaurants, etc. Maybe it’s a sign of the times and “recession pricing” is seeing some bargains after all.

Further, the people who did this have never been to Orlando and stayed in a vacation home. If they had, then Orlando would outpull Vegas. Vegas doesn’t have a product that can sleep 8 to 16 people in a 2000 sq ft to 3000 sq ft home for around $16 per person per night as far as I’m aware, but that’s exactly what we have in Central Florida.

Add in the fact that guests get their own fully equipped kitchen so they can save money by eating in instead of going out to expensive restaurants and that the real winner is their own private swimming pool, I’d say Orlando easily outranks Las Vegas in the “VALUE” stakes.

On the International front the top five were:

1. Rome

2. London

3. Paris

4. Madrid

5. Prague

I absolutely fail to understand what the hell London, Paris and Rome are doing in that list. They are all horrendously expensive places and value is practically impossible to find compared to places like Lisbon, Dublin and Amsterdam.

Let us know what you think. Where are the best value destinations in your opinion?

Would you believe that as a British ex-Pat I can see more live soccer/football on TV here than I can in the UK, not to mention every other match on taped delay, with regular updates througout the week.  In fact we have two channels here devoted totally to football … Fox Soccer Channel and GolTV.  Then factor in all the pubs and bars that show Premium channels like the Rangers and Celtic games.

That’s right Rangers and Celtic supporters get to watch EVERY game that their team is in LIVE … you can’t even do that in Scotland.  The whole USA is swamped with Supporters Clubs for both as each team draws passionate support from it’s cultural transplants.

Orlando has a thriving Rangers Supporters Club with branches in Kissimmee and Orlando, here this their latest promotional video.
Blue Sea of Ibrox

Florida Leisure has a list of pubs and establishments available for our guests on where they can watch their favorite team … in fact we have welcomed guests struggling to see the game into our own homes … we love football that much.

As this season ends, don’t let next season prevent you from taking a well deserved vacation over here … you’ll get to see so much football on TV, you’re friends will never know you left.

Been playing catch up on my Tivo tonight and decided to watch The Apprentice UK. I’m not sure if this is the first series that’s running on BBC America at the moment but it’s pretty entertaining even if Alan Sugar isn’t Donald Trump.

The men are kicking ass at the moment and the women don’t seem to have a leader or, what’s worse, a clue. The way things are going I don’t see the women winning a task.

And talking of The Apprentice, I met with another person from the program just recently. I bumped into Bill Rancic, the first ever winner of the Apprentice and he’s a really great guy. He’d certainly knock the spots off most of the UK crowd!

Yesterday we had another reminder of how precious life is. Natasha Richardson, aged 45, passed away after suffering injuries during a skiing trip. Natasha was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director, Tony Richardson.

She made her screen debut at the age of four in her father’s movie “The Charge of the Light Brigade” which also featured her mother and her uncle Colin Redgrave. Her career then revolved around the theatre and relatively minor roles in UK television such as “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”.

In 1990 she appeared in “A Handmaid’s Tale” with Faye Dunnaway and Robert Duvall and then in 1994 she starred with Jodie Foster in “Nell” where she found herself working with Liam Neeson again and they duly fell in love and married the same year.

In 1998 she won a “Tony” for her performance of Sally Bowles in the New York stage musical “Cabaret”.  More recently she appeared in another New York production as Blanche Dubois in “A Streetcar Called Desire” in 2005 and then in January of this year she starred with her mother in a benefit concert of the Stephen Sondheim musical “A Little Night Music”.

Natasha leaves behind her two young sons Michael, 13 and Daniel, 12.

I am watching the Presidential Address to Congress and all I can say is what a difference between this guy and the previous few doofuses that have occupied the White House.

Amazing … healthcare for kids … tax breaks if you earn less than $250K per year … a review of the wars … zero tolerance for people dropping out of school … an end to tax breaks for sending jobs overseas.

What a revelation … if you live here and don’t get an education then you are a traitor to your country.

I have been as depressed as anyone about the current “hopelessness” as we watch our savings dwindle, but sometimes you just need someone to take you by the hand and say it’ll be alright … many have tried in the past, but I actually believe this guy can do it.  Any doubts I had have gone … I am now a believer in Obama.

U.S.A.