December 26th, Boxing Day & no 'sales' madness for this family. There never has been - although the Boxing Day Sales are only a concept that have developed over the last few years anyway & I'm sure there are many more who ignore them than those who buy into the madness. Fortunately New Zealand hasn't brought into the extremely early opening, mass stampeding mentality that Australia has. For that much at least I am extremely grateful!
Boxing Day in New Zealand is a fixed holiday & always celebrated the day after Christmas irregardless of what day of the week it falls on.
Mum has great stories of Boxing Day celebrated during her childhood in England.....some of them concern her Birthday being forgotten. Her family was a big one. My Papa was one of 7 children, as was my Nana & a large portion of them & their children used to get together at a boarding school, where one of their Uncles worked as a caretaker, while it was closed for the holiday season. I suspect this made for a fabulous, fun filled, family orientated extended Christmas celebration - providing a lot of adventure & mischief opportunities for the kids.
This was passed on to us as children. Both Christmas & Boxing day were always huge family events, & have continued to be so in the traditional way even though nowadays more often than not we don't get to spend it with our adult cousins, scattered around the country as they are.
This was going to be a long post & something of a tribute to my Mum, but for now anyway, I think I shall just leave out all the other stuff, say bugger to all the commercial crap that has now become associated with Boxing Day & wish my darling Mum the most wonderful 71st Birthday a girl could wish for.
Yes - she still is a girl inside, no matter what the packaging says. Her somewhat naughty sense of humour & fierce independence will attest to that! Not to mention the fact that apart from the youngest crop of grandchildren - we are all now taller than her! Oh, how she does complain about that one - saying that she has always been 5'5 1/2" & wanting to know where that other two inches has now gone. She's not kidding either - we were the same height!
Boxing Day in New Zealand is a fixed holiday & always celebrated the day after Christmas irregardless of what day of the week it falls on.
Mum has great stories of Boxing Day celebrated during her childhood in England.....some of them concern her Birthday being forgotten. Her family was a big one. My Papa was one of 7 children, as was my Nana & a large portion of them & their children used to get together at a boarding school, where one of their Uncles worked as a caretaker, while it was closed for the holiday season. I suspect this made for a fabulous, fun filled, family orientated extended Christmas celebration - providing a lot of adventure & mischief opportunities for the kids.
This was passed on to us as children. Both Christmas & Boxing day were always huge family events, & have continued to be so in the traditional way even though nowadays more often than not we don't get to spend it with our adult cousins, scattered around the country as they are.
This was going to be a long post & something of a tribute to my Mum, but for now anyway, I think I shall just leave out all the other stuff, say bugger to all the commercial crap that has now become associated with Boxing Day & wish my darling Mum the most wonderful 71st Birthday a girl could wish for.
Yes - she still is a girl inside, no matter what the packaging says. Her somewhat naughty sense of humour & fierce independence will attest to that! Not to mention the fact that apart from the youngest crop of grandchildren - we are all now taller than her! Oh, how she does complain about that one - saying that she has always been 5'5 1/2" & wanting to know where that other two inches has now gone. She's not kidding either - we were the same height!
Mum & my 'little' brother, Paul.Happy Birthday Mum
I was truly blessed when you chose me!
6 comments:
Happy Birthday, Deb's Mum!
Birthday wishes from SA for Deb's mom!! Hope they spoilt you rotten!!
hmmmmm, seeing all those cards in the background. Did one ever arrive from SA. :))
Mich - that photo was taken at Mum's place...so they are all her cards.
Afraid to say 'no' to your question - but hey you know what snail mail is like at this time of year, there is still hope.
Happy Birthday to your Mom! She looks great - I love how you phrased "she's still a girl inside despite her packaging" - very nice turn of the phrase!
Have a great day!
Cindy
Belated happy birthday to Deb's Mum
Marcy
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