A Holiday With Great British Style : Delicious Beverages to Celebrate a Traditional Boxing Day

Memories of Boxing Day, Dec. 26, hit me immediately upon receiving a charming release from the Twinings of London people about the English tradition of giving and receiving presents.

Ah, yes, I remember Boxing Day well.

It is an adored and ironclad holiday in England that causes all services to close down with a thud.

I know. I was there one year during the coldest and snowiest winter of them all, when nary a mouse emerged to save the day on Boxing Day.

But first, let the Twinings people explain Boxing Day, as long as they’ve bothered to write about it: “Its origins have been traced to a Roman custom of giving and receiving presents.

Party Times

“During the time of trade guilds, it was common practice for both customers and tradespeople to donate extra sums of money to each other for expected gratuities. The English nobility gave parties and gifts to their servants on Boxing Day. Today, postmen, milkmen and paper boys are remembered. The age-old custom of gift-giving lives on the day after the national holiday and takes place between employers and employees rather than family and friends,” reads the press release.

The name Boxing Day originated from a tradition in which each ship leaving a port around Christmastime took an extra box of cargo aboard. The box remained sealed until the ship reached its home port where the contents were donated to the needy.

We were in London one Christmas enjoying the glorious Christmas hubbub at Harrods and Fortnum and Mason’s, where white-gloved, tail-coated clerks with rosy cheeks tended to our every whim in the true spirit of Christmas. “I beg your pardon,” said one clerk, whom I had asked to interview for a story on what people buy during the holiday. “Can’t you see it’s Christmas? You’ll have to see me after the holiday.”

Well, that was fine. Who wanted to know, anyway?

We walked in the knee-deep snow, threw snowballs at each other and made our call to a country inn in the Cotswolds, which, we were told, was extra charming during the holiday season. We were to leave, we thought, on the 26th so we could enjoy a true Christmas Day dinner on the 25th with friends at our hotel.

“Ah, but you can’t travel on the 26th, my dear,” said our concierge, when we tried to book a seat to Gloucestershire. “Trains stop runing on Boxing Day. Try renting a car.”

Stay-at-Home Day

“Completely booked,” said the Hertz man. “Nothing at all for the 26th. Nothing at all until the new year, for that matter. Every car in London has been scooped up long before and there is a waiting list besides.”

We tried Avis, Budget, Dollar. Nothing.

“Well, we’ll just have to make the best of being snowed in on Boxing Day in London. It could be worse, you know,” I said to the concierge.

“Ah, but you won’t have much to do, madam,” said our concierge. “All the shops, restaurants, movies, plays, concerts, and pubs are shut on Boxing Day. It’s the tradition.”

A Last Resort

So what was left? A lonely Monday in London with nothing to do, no one to see, nowhere to go?

“How about taxis?” I asked the concierge.

“You might get one today, but not tomorrow,” he answered.

We grabbed the cabby on the street and managed to catch the last flight out of London.

It was good being on our way to Paris.

I knew the shops, restaurants, movies and bars would be open on Boxing Day in Paris.

The bars, especially.

Especially if they served tea the way they do in London. But not on Boxing Day.

BLACK CURRANT CLOUD

1 ounce cognac

1 cup hot black currant tea

1 cinnamon stick or lemon twist

Pour cognac into mug of black currant tea. Add cinnamon stick stirrer or garnish with lemon twist. Makes 1 serving.

HOT TEA PUNCH

Assam tea

Dark rum

Orange juice

Lemon juice

Brown sugar

Lemon and orange slices

Mix together in saucepan 4 parts Assam tea, 2 parts dark rum and 1 part orange juice. Heat through, being careful not to boil. Add lemon juice and soft brown sugar to taste. Serve piping hot garnished with lemon and orange slices.

BLUEBERRY TEA

1/2 ounce Amaretto

3 to 4 ounces hot Ceylon Breakfast tea

1/2 ounce Grand Marnier

Warm long-stemmed tulip wine glass with hot water. Put Amaretto in bottom of glass. Fill nearly to top with hot Ceylon Breakfast tea. Top with Grand Marnier. Do not stir. Drink will have aroma and flavor of fresh blueberries. Makes 1 serving.