Boxing Day has British origins. Most countires of the Commonwealth have some observance of it. Here in Canada, it IS a holiday, for schools, of course, banks, government, and it used to be so for liquor and beer stores until the laws were relaxed. Retail businesses, as well, were closed, by law, but a few rebellious (thank you, Paul Magder) retailers spearheaded the change. As usual, the stores will be nuts this week, and many of the bigger malls with the big chains, motivated by WalMart's 24 hour opening, before Christmas, will also be 24 hours for this week, until New Years closings. Boxing Day is a statutory holiday, here.
I think the origins of Boxing Day had something to do with the lords of the manor, giving boxes of necessities to the peasants. In more recent times, the employees would be given gifts on the day after Christmas, in boxes.....I suppose that could be considered their Christmas bonus.
In my family, besides it being a day to relax, it was an alternate day to Christmas. What with one side of the family, grandfather down to great grandchildren adding up to as many as 45 people, we'd tend to demand that the larger family make their date decision by December 1, as the other side of the family needed to make their plans as well. One year, horror of horrors, they didn't decide, so commitment was made to the other side of the family. Well, darned if the larger family didn't choose the same date. Hey, they knew. Anyway, Christmas Day or Boxing Day were usually the feast/gathering days. Both sides of the family would have huge meals. Two days in a row was always way too much, so Boxing Day or the next, would be light meals, using any leftovers that we'd be sent home with.
Also, in my family, Christmas Day is the START of the season, not the end of it. Christmas Day is the first day of Christmas, and the tree would have been put up after the 21st, and not taken down until after 12th Night, or the 5th of January. When I was a kid, we'd light all the special candles, including the glockens, and dad would be at his prized organ with 3 manuals, bought from an old church, and we'd be singing carols, every night including 12th Night. So, for me today, Boxing Day, is only the second day of Christmas. Two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear treeeeeee!
ViolaB