The English call December 26th Boxing Day. Traditionally, it is the day when the wealthy people gave a box containing a gift to their servants. I expect there was some re-gifting going on there. Wiki says it is now considered a shopping day, similar to our Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. It's also a shopping day in our country, when everyone returns their Christmas gifts and buys half-price Christmas crap.

We went to the store early this morning for milk, and the Walmart next door looked busy, but not in the hysterical manner of Black Friday.

A granny-looking lady came out with a shopping cart overflowing with Christmas items, and she looked so pleased with herself. I suppose she will claim she has completed her Christmas shopping for 2012. I was thinking that I hope she lives that long, and she'll probably still do more holiday shopping before next Christmas. Going to estate auctions has taught me that people stock up on decor and gift wrap and gifts they will never have a use for, and their family doesn't want them, either. Pretty soon, by next Christmas in some respects, the hoarded stuff goes out of style, so they go buy new stuff that is more trendy.

The only new Christmas stuff that comes into my house is from casino give-aways. This year we got cute stuffed animals - a penguin, a polar bear, and a snowman. I gave my cousin Betsy her choice, and she took the snowman. I was a little bit sorry because it would have fit in with our previous snowman gifts, a cookie jar and a bank. But she loved that snow man, and kept giving it hugs and talking to it during the day, so I'm glad it has a good loving home.



Oh, no danger of our house being decor-free for Christmas. We have a fiberoptic Christmas tree that I bought at one of those estate auctions for $5, and it is decorated with clear plastic icicles and shiny Mardi Gras beads from the casinos. And up in the front bedroom window we have one of those candle arrangements from the 1950s. We vary the colors from one year to the next.



Mr. Troutbend used to put up outdoor lights along the eaves of the garage, and we had a nice outdoor timer so we didn't have to remember to plug them in or unplug them. But our neighbor to the west never decorates, so he has used that for an excuse to take a pass the last couple of years.

The best thing about it is that it takes about 5 minutes to un-decorate.

So, happy boxing day to you.