FEATURE
was a working day, the cause of another
conversation of importance at our house.
Mother, “Why do you have to work
tomorrow? It’s Boxing Day.”
Me, “Mother, we’ve discussed this
before. There is no Boxing Day in the
United States.”
Mother, “Well why not? There should
be.”
Nowadays I suppose we would have
been able to Google the explanation but,
in those days, I either politely pointed out
the origin of Boxing Day or if avoidance
was necessary hot-footed it upstairs to
take charge of two boys dealing with new
toys, “I want that,” and a sugar overload.
I have to confess though that mid-week
Christmases often had me questioning
the need for celebration in my personal
life.
As we moved into 1986 and the boys’
school semester started, Mother had a
moment of reflection. She began to re-
alize that those fun-filled days with her
two grandsons and no parents present
were coming to an end. She began to
ask about the school calendar and was
amazed to find that they would be home
in the summer for almost three months.
How about that.
Sometime during the early spring in
her quietly serious voice, she mentioned that she might not
be with us for Christmas 1986. She would plan to come in
the early summer of 1987 and spend as much time with the
boys as she could. I told her about our hot, humid summers,
but that would be no hardship for this grandmother. It was
just the timing that we had to work out. In those days, her
travel to the U.S. was governed by a six-month visa require-
ment - coming and going. Before she left in ’86, we worked
out a plan that would have her here for much of the summer
of ‘87 and include at least Christmas of that year and maybe
even the New Year.
So that is how I came to be in Florida for Christmas 1986.
I remember no lines for any of the attractions at the EPCOT
Center. I remember Captain EO and the World of Motion. I
remember a bus that took us every morning from our little
hotel and brought us back after midnight and fireworks. Most
of all, I remember steak & kidney pudding for my lunch on
Christmas Day in the UK pavilion. The guys ate fish & chips
with real vinegar. No one fought over Christmas presents,
and there was no discussion of Boxing Day because we stayed
until December 29. Boxing Day could wait for another year
which, of course, it did.
Dr. Amin is a retired diagnostic radiologist.
Note: in 1994 The EPCOT Center was renamed Epcot.
Captain EO closed for good in 2015
World in Motion is now Test Track
DECEMBER 2017
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