Today is Boxing Day, which is a big holiday in the UK, but not so much here in the US. It is the day that the English give gifts and a day off to their servants, who spent the holidays, including Christmas Day, serving their masters. I myself had to lay off all my servants, due to Covid-19, which means I can avoid having to purchase all those damn gifts this year and instead go out and buy a few half price 2021 calendars. Also, on this Boxing Day, l can enjoy looking at my Christmas tree, seen in the photo on the left, which I wasn't able to put up until late on Christmas Eve. This is kind of a family tradition, actually. My mother Mary told me that when she was a little girl, her parents didn't put up a tree until after she and her brothers went to bed on Christmas Eve. I am not sure if this was because of some family custom, or simply that my Grandfather Spillard just wanted to wait until the last minute in order to to get a bargain. One of my favorite stories was how my grandfather found one of these bargain trees after having had a few drinks one Christmas Eve, and brought it home to their apartment at 57th and Prairie, on Chicago's South Side, on the "L" train. Evidently, this was by no means a small tree, and made for a difficult commute during the evening rush hour. Sounds like a perfectly reasonable decision to me.
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