Some time ago (about 15 years now) six of my close friends and I started our own American Boxing Day tradition. Sometime right after Christmas we would gather and exchange gifts. These started out to be joke gifts or re-gifting unwanted or sometimes duplicate things that we had received for Christmas. Each one of us would get or obtain 5 things so that at the end of the evening you would have 6 gifts to take home. This is always a stag gathering, so the presents were sometimes ribald or at least X or R rated. We vary the locations, sometimes somebody’s house, sometimes a bar or restaurant if we can have some privacy.

I should tell you, that when I say close friends, I mean really close. We all know each other very well. We know what makes each other tick, we know where the skeletons are buried. At one time or another, we have all been in combat together, and each one of us owes his life to at least one or more of the others.

After the first three or four years, the situation changed. We drifted away from the joke gifts and started getting really personal, unique items for each other. We never made a conscious choice to change the format, it just happened. Now the gifts are puzzled over for the entire year. We now try to make the gift match the person as much as possible. For instance, if one guy is a fisherman, he might get a few hand tied fishing flies, or maybe a hand carved and painted lure, or maybe an antique re-worked reel. But this is an over-simplification, as the gifts are seldom that easy. Never high cost, but always high thought.

Remember, none of this was ever really discussed, it just happened.

Then three years ago, just before Christmas, one of our number died. So when we all showed up for our Boxing Day, we all brought six gifts. Again, no discussion, it just happened. Now we needed rules.

What we decided was to have a memory table. We would still exchange and open our individual gifts (we always do this one at a time) but then we would put the extra “memory” gift on a table and draw numbers to see who got what. But we threw in a twist. Let’s say that I have number three; as #3, I have the option of taking from three of the un-opened wrapped gifts on the table, or I can rob from one of the other guys. If I rob from one of the other guys, he then can also choose from the table, or rob from somebody else (but he can’t take back the thing that was robbed from him, at least not that round.) An item can be stolen twice and then is frozen. This continues until everyone has something. It is best to be last. It’s also funny that some items have returned year after year.

Well this year I got some nice things, and some very nice things were given. I got a nice book on Scottish legends and the below.



Not bad for a bunch of old Marine Geezers – Huh?
To keep with the kilted thought I should say that I wore navy blue hose, Leatherneck tank, tan shirt, black shoes, belts, sporran and my converted blue blazer.