Happy Boxing Day
Chelsea 3 - Fulham 2

The English Premier League traditionally has a full fixture list for the day after Christmas (aka, Boxing Day), and I've been able to sneak a peak at a few games while still on vacation here in Raleigh visiting my mother-in-law (aka, my blogging partner, Old Fogey). Unfortunately, our social schedule will take me away from the telly this afternoon, when the Chelsea derby with neighboring Fulham is shown, so I checked the score and happily found a Chelsea win... but just by the skin of their teeth. After opening a 2-nil lead with goals by want-away defender William Gallas and Player of the Year runner-up Frank Lampard, Fulham came back to equalize (with one goal by US striker Brian McBride). But Hernan Crespo (shown in the image to the right) saved the day with a winning strike, keeping Chelsea 9 points ahead of chasing ManU.

If you're wondering what Boxing Day is all about, here's what Wikipedia has to say:

Boxing Day is a public holiday observed in many Commonwealth countries on 26 December. In many European countries it is also a holiday, called St Stephen's Day or the Second Day of Christmas. Depending on its origin, it may have traditionally been strictly defined as the first weekday after Christmas [1]. However over the past few decades, Boxing Day has been almost universally accepted as the 26th December [2], although its associated public holiday may fall on a different day.

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There is great dispute over the true origins of Boxing Day. The more common stories include:

• Centuries ago, merchants would present their servants food and fruits as a form of Yuletide tip. Naturally, the gifts of food and fruit were packed in boxes, hence the term "Boxing Day".

• In feudal times, Christmas was a reason for a gathering of extended families. All the serfs would gather their families in the manor of their lord, which makes it easier for the lord of the estate to hand out annual stipends to the serfs. After all the Christmas parties on December 25, the lord of the estate would give practical goods such as cloth, grains, and tools to the serfs who lived on his land, and one family would get a box full of such goods the day after Christmas. Under this explanation, there was nothing voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the manor was obligated to supply these goods. Because of the boxes being given out, the day was called Boxing Day.

• In Britain many years ago, it was common practice for the servants to carry boxes to their employers when they arrive for their day's work on the day after Christmas (26 December). Their employers would then put coins in the boxes as special end-of-year gifts. This can be compared with the modern day concept of Christmas bonuses. The servants carried boxes for the coins, hence the name Boxing Day.

• In churches, it was tradition to open the church's donation box on Christmas day, and the money in the donation box were to be distributed to the poorer or lower class citizens on the next day. In this case, the "box" in "Boxing Day" comes from that one gigantic lockbox in which the donations were left.

• In Britain because many servants had to work for their employers on Christmas day they would instead open their presents (ie. boxes) the next day, which therefore became known as boxing day.

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In Austria, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden, the 26th is known as the Second day of Christmas ("der zweite Weihnachtstag" in Germany, Annandag Jul — "the day after Christmas" — in Sweden) and is also a public holiday. In Ireland, the holiday is known as St Stephen's Day, or Wren's Day; in Austria it is called Stefanita and in Finland tapaninpäivä which also mean "St. Stephen's Day"; in Wales, it is known as Gŵyl San Steffan (St. Stephen's Holiday). In Catalonia, this day is known as Sant Esteve, Catalan for St. Stephen. A practice known as Hunt the Wren is still practiced by some in the Isle of Man, where people thrash out wrens from hedgerows. Traditionally they were killed and their feathers presented to households for good luck.