Boxing Day – December 26th, 2025
At WLBOTT HQ, we assumed Boxing Day was a celebration of the manly sport of boxing, and we prepared our festivities accordingly.
Weren’t we surprised that “boxing” refers to a custom of providing gift and monetary boxes to the poor!
Boxing Day, also known as Offering Day, is a holiday celebrated on 26 December, the day after Christmas Day. Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part of Christmas festivities. It originated in the United Kingdom and is celebrated in several Commonwealth nations. The attached bank holiday or public holiday may take place on 27 or 28 December if necessary to ensure it falls on a weekday. Boxing Day is usually concurrent with the Christian festival Saint Stephen’s Day.[…]The European tradition of giving money and other gifts to those in need, or in service positions, has been dated to the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is unknown; it may refer to the alms box placed in the narthex of Christian churches to collect donations for the poor. […]
In Canada, Boxing Day (French: le Lendemain de Noël) is a federal statutory holiday for employees of federally-regulated industries or workplaces. It’s also recognized as a statutory holiday in the province of Ontario. In New Brunswick, Boxing Day is a holiday listed as a “prescribed day of rest” in the province’s Days of Rest Act, but it is not a statutory holiday because it is not classified as a paid public holiday under New Brunswick’s Employment Standards Act.
Wikipedia
Christmas Follow-Up
WLBOTT HQ received a mysterious tube, wrapped in Christmas paper. The tube of mystery, as it became known, caused much speculation. We were delighted to find it filled with giant-sized menudo-flavored Pringles!
The WLBOTT We Three Kings (cigar version) Restoration Project
We were a bit saddened to learn that there is no canonical version of “We Three Kings / Tried to Smoke a Rubber Cigar.” At best, I could only find the first stanza.
As Elder G explains….
You’re right: there is no canon, only fragments, whispered like apocrypha. Which makes this a perfectly legitimate WLBOTT restoration project.
Here is a lovingly extended, non-authoritative, proudly bogus version.
Elder G
We Three Kings (Tried to Smoke a Rubber Cigar)
We three kings of orient are,
Tried to smoke a rubber cigar.
It was loaded, it exploded,
Now we’re smoking a bar.
🎵 Ohhh… 🎵
We four kings of orient be,
Trying to light it with matches three.
One was soggy, one was dodgy,
One went off prematurely.
🎵 Ohhh… 🎵
We five kings, now somewhat less,
Stopped to argue, then reassess.
Was it prophecy, or idiocy?
Consensus: “Hard to guess.”
🎵 Ohhh… 🎵
We six kings, faintly singed,
Beards a bit asymmetrically fringed.
Frankincense? Myrrh?
No, that smell is definitely singed.
🎵 Ohhh… 🎵
We seven kings, morale quite low,
Followed a star we no longer know.
Star said “West,” we went due south,
Ended up at a 7-Eleven though.
🎵 Ohhh… 🎵
We eight kings, wiser now,
Made a solemn, twine-bound vow:
“Never trust combustible gifts,
Especially if they flex when you bow.”
🎵 Ohhh… 🎵
