We let Wicked Wednesday be quiet yesterday on Christmas (but seriously – didn’t you love the graphic?). Today is Boxing Day in England and former British Empire countries. So let’s riff on boxes. Do you or your characters observe Boxing Day? Do your cats love boxes? Do you have a series sold in a boxed set? Do you (or did you) have a music box? Have you ever put on boxing gloves and lit into a bag or a sparring partner? Extra credit for pictures. Go!
Jessie: Since my Beryl and Edwina books are set in England most of my characters do celebrate Boxing Day. In my house, the 26th always feels more like unboxing day since we usually have a stack of them from the day before to either recycle or fold up for use another year!
Julie: Delia Greenway from my Garden Squad series loves boxes. She loves order, and creates order. Her work with the Goosebush Historical Society is all about records, boxes, what goes in them, and what should be in them and is missing. My cats are surprisingly uninterested in boxes, isn’t that odd? I thought sitting in boxes was part of being a cat.
Barb: We’re on the road to Key West, leaving our son’s house in Virginia today, so our car is FULL of boxes. But mostly I’m thinking of all the mail order ones that went out with the recycle while I was wrapping the presents.
Liz: I thought it would be fitting to post Snowy after she scaled a particularly tall box. This is funny because this 23-year-old gal is usually IN a box (seriously, there is a box at all times in my kitchen – it’s where she sleeps) but this particular day she was feeling energetic.
Edith/Maddie: Snowy rocks, Liz! I took a kick-boxing class about ten years ago at my local Y, and I loved it. One of the participants was older than I was and was totally fit. I remembered my karate stances and kicks from many years before. We had actual punching bags to use. What a way to blow off frustrations! And then…I guess I was overambitious, because I pretty much blew out my hamstring and had to hobble home. I haven’t boxed since and rely on cats in boxes for my boxing fix.
Sherry: In A Good Day to Buy a former cage fighter decides Sarah needs self-defense lessons which include boxing. Let me just say that Sarah isn’t very good at it.
Readers: Tell us about boxes!
My Hubby and I have an ongoing battle with boxes since there’s always a shipment of SOMETHING arriving at our house. Kensi Kitty lays claim to all of them and is terribly disappointed when the Dad throws them out. I insist on keeping at least one (or two or three) cat-sized boxes around for her to hide or sleep in. Because if the kitty isn’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.
And the smaller the better, Annette? Somewhere I have a picture of our biggest cat in the smallest box you can imagine!
Living in Canada, we celebrate Boxing Day. It is really just another day off work, a day to clean up after Christmas, fold up boxes, eat leftovers and meet up with other friends and family we did not see on Christmas Day. I am going to spend mine reading and watching Hallmark Christmas movies that I didn’t have time to watch before Christmas.
That sounds lovely!
My cat loved jumping into boxes. I repurposed a box into a bed for him and he was in that thing more than any other bed we’d ever purchased for him over the years. I’m still missing him so much. 😔
We’re missing ours, too.
My “boxing” contribution would have to be from one of our collections. I have a bell collections ranging from the small hand bells to the large church bells in the yard. I also love antiques so the majority of my bells are old bells with some history to them like the railroad conductor’s bell in the house and the railroad bell off Southern Pacific steam engine #979. One of my bell collection is a BOXING ring bell and since I love antiques I found two 1909 boxing related photos to display with it.
Since I can’t post photo here, I’ll post it on Facebook. 🙂
2clowns at arkansas dot net
That’s very cool, Kay!
Liz, I think it’s wonderful that 23(!)-year old Snowy is still climbing boxes. And I love the pic. Our kitty occasionally gets in a box, but it’s not a real thing with her. We used to have a cat that loved paper bags and would hide in them. The best part of cardboard boxes is that they are recyclable and we have a recycling center nearby.
I had a paper bag cat, too, Ginny.
I’m SO disappointed in you, Edith. You’ve let me down! You failed to ask if our characters had a Boxer as a pet! Personally, I suspect canine discrimination, clearly evidenced by your inclusion of a photo of a CAT in your post, but not even the mention of a dog.
Personally, I’m considering filing a complaint with the ADDL (Anti Dog Discrimination League).
Frankly, I thought you were better than that, Edith.
My dog, Ellie, wishes officially to disassociate herself with these sentiments. As usual, she’s embarrassed to know me. But that’s nothing new. Most of the time, I’M embarrassed to know me.
Embarrassingly Yours This Boxing Day, 2019,
Lee Sauer
I’m glad you asked it for me, Lee!
I am finally giving myself permission to get rid of boxes. I have so many in the garage that I have saved in case I need that that if my TBR pile doesn’t fall over and kill me, these empty boxes might fall over and do the job instead.
Go for it, Mark!