Happy Boxing Day, everyone! Here in NYC, Boxing Day mostly just means sales so good you have to be an Amazon warrior to actually walk into a store; but in other places, like England, Wales, Ireland and Canada, Boxing Day has been a national holiday since 1871. However, the origins of Boxing Day are vague, and according to my attempts this morning to try to figure out what exactly this holiday is about, even the people who celebrate it aren’t “really sure what they’re celebrating, when it started or why.” According to Time Magazine, it was maybe started by the Church of England, and had to do with a box of donations; or, it could have represented “the traditional day on which the aristocracy distributed presents (boxes) to servants and employees.”

Either way, today we are celebrating boxes: boxes that you wrapped, received, recycled, or folded up to reuse for next year; boxes you have been put in and boxes you will free yourself from in 2013; boxes called apartments you live in, boxes you put your dog in when you travelled to your family’s house for the holidays; the box between your legs that is particularly excited to get 20% the 2013 Autostraddle Calendar today; the box between your girlfriend’s legs that you should pay more attention to now that you don’t have to do your holiday shopping; Julie and Brandy in your box office.

Here are some songs about boxes to help you celebrate this special day.

Boxing Day Playlist

[STREAM THE PLAYLIST HERE]

Shadowboxer – Fiona Apple
Glory Box – Portishead
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat– Bob Dylan
Heart-Shaped Box – Nirvana
Houdini’s Box – Jill Sobule
Shoebox – Barenaked Ladies
Please Mr. BoomBox – The Lady Tigra
Music Box – Regina Spektor
Box Full of Letters – Wilco
Back in the Box – David Byrne
Boxing Day – Blink-182
Boxing Day (Bonus Track) – Sondre Lerche
Trapped in a Box – No Doubt
Rox In The Box – The Decemberists
Box – Tokyo Police Club
Take the Box – Amy Winehouse
Little Boxes – Devendra Banhart

Want to suggest a playlist theme? Hit Crystal up on Formspring and someone of the team will make it for you.

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