Happy Boxing Day!

(Above: My mom-in-law's cats, Duffy and Mango, eye a cheeky squirrel just outside the window. The squirrel was having WAY too much fun with the fact that the cats couldn't reach him.)

Happy Boxing Day! What an odd name for a holiday, don't you think? People seem to differ about the origins, though it does seem that the original tradition was started to help maintain society's class structure in a one-way gift-giving practice since stories involve merchants giving gifts to servants, feudal lords giving gifts to serfs, employers giving money to servants, churches opening donation boxes for the poor.

In North America these days, Boxing Day seems to be more strongly associated with retail store sales. I'm HIGHLY tempted to check out the Boxing Day sale at Loomis Art Store in our neighbourhood, but I also really hate crowds.

I only recently ventured into this Loomis store for the first time and almost collapsed into a quivering hysterical fit right there in the lobby, it was SO my kind of store. Dear lord. The Web site doesn't list most of the what the store carries. Fortunately I was feeling cash-poor at the time as a result of finishing up Christmas shopping, so it was easier to resist the lure of all those crafty supplies.

Off to have lunch with my family soon, but here are a few pics from my holiday so far:







My mom-in-law gave me a keyboard that rolls up:



It's a 49-key, four-octave electronic keyboard that sounds remarkably like a piano considering its appearance. You can get about 100 other instrument sounds, but I like the piano the best. The keyboard also offers about 100 different rhythm accompaniments for those that like that sort of thing.

Reminds me so much of that Star Trek the Next Generation episode "Lessons" where Jean-Luc Picard jams on the penny whistle while his pal, Nella Darren, plays her futuristic rollable keyboard.

Yes, I'm a nerdgirl and proud of it. :-)

Dec/2005 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal comments