Boxing Day
Boxing Day, celebrated on December 26 or the first weekday following Christmas, is a legal holiday in Canada, Great Britain, and some other countries. Its name probably comes from the old custom of giving boxes of gifts on this day to people who render services to the public, such as mail carriers. It is also the day on which churches open the boxes of money and goods for the poor donated by parishioners.The exchange of gifts has remained a central feature of the holiday season the world over. It has become so significant that most merchants count on making a very large proportion of their annual sales during the period from late November to December 24. So important has the Christmas selling period become that many stores fail to show a profit at the end of the year if Christmas sales are low.