Hey, Holiday Fans!

Well, another bright Christmas season has come to an end. As sung in a song popularized by The Carpenters, “Greeting Cards have all been sent, the Christmas rush is through.”

 The only thing left now is New Year’s Day, right? Wrong. The next holiday after Christmas is right now. Today! It’s Boxing Day. Recognized in many commonwealth nations like Canada, England, South Africa, and others, Boxing Day in today’s world is essentially an extended Christmas Day.

 It’s the day where you check out the presents that you unwrapped yesterday and eat the food that you ate yesterday. It’s a day for hangin’ around the house, being lazy, and wondering, “what now?” Though it seems right up our alley, the U.S. does not celebrate this holiday.

So what in the heck is Boxing Day?!

That’s a question that’s easier to ask than it is to answer (mainly because there is no answer). There are a couple different ideas on the subject

The first idea is taken from the Christmas carol, Good Kind Wenceslas. For those familiar with the song, you’ll note that King Wenceslas spots a poor man gathering firewood in a snowstorm on St. Stephen’s Day (December 26). According to the song, the king brings the man food and wine and brings him to his home.

Another idea is that the holiday originated from the old tradition in which employers and the upper class gifted their servants and employees presents (in boxes). The employees and servants would then go home to have a second Christmas of sorts with the boxes they received from their employer.

In any case, Boxing Day started out as a day in which the poor were gifted by the rich. Nowadays it’s more so a day for watching sporting events and eating leftovers. Happy Boxing Day, everyone.

Hey, Merrymakers!

Christmas has been around for a long time and it’s come to mean a lot to a lot of people. For so many of us, we’ll spend Christmas with our families exchanging gifts with one another and enjoying a delicious holiday feast. That’s what I usually do with my family every year for Christmas.

This year, however, my family has already gotten together to have our Christmas celebration. Our gift-giving and ritual feasting has come and gone for the year. But just because we’ve already had our Christmas celebration doesn’t mean I’m done making merry this year!

Many families celebrate Christmas earlier than December 25. So if the holiday has already been celebrated, then what’s left for Christmas Day? People have their own traditions for a simpler Christmas Day that still makes the day special (or especially relaxing)!

Lots of people who have already celebrated Christmas with their family use Christmas as a day where it’s okay to stay in your bathrobe until after noon, take a nap in the middle of the day, and snack on treats and drink hot chocolate during waking hours. In other words, Christmas Day becomes a much needed break from this typically hectic season!

Others enjoy venturing out into the quiet town around them, going to see what’s playing in the theaters. A trip to the cinema on Christmas Day has become a rather popular tradition for those seeking out a quieter Christmas than the usual family celebration.

Sledding is another popular activity for a little fun on Christmas Day. What better way to celebrate a white Christmas than to catch a thrill as you slide down a snow-covered hill? Find yourself a good hill and good group of friends for your sledding experience.

No matter how you end up celebrating Christmas Day, make sure you have a happy holiday that’s special to you. From everyone at Everything Summer Camp, Merry Christmas! Thanks for reading, Camp Families!

Hey, Procrastinators!

Don’t worry—you’re far from the only one who lets the holidays sneak up and surprise you by arriving earlier than you realized they would. In fact, I’m pretty sure that it happens to everybody. It certainly happens to me each year! The holidays may take lots of work, but that’s just because they mean so much to everyone.

This time of year is important to let our close, loved ones know that we’ve been thinking about them. For whatever reason, showing this gesture isn’t always the easiest. The person you’re thinking of may not be a very easy person to shop for. Or maybe you just don’t know well enough what that person might like this year in particular.

In certain situations like these, gift certificates are a nice gesture—especially a gift certificate to a cool, fun place like Everything Summer Camp. A gift certificate to the right place can end up being a great gift! With a little direction and a nice sum of money to work with, what more could a kid want in a gift? They can spend hours browsing our online store imagining each product with their name on it.

Everything Summer Camp offers a vast array of both fun items that kids will enjoy as well as practical camp supplies and quality camping gear. Camp trunks make great presents for kids whether they’ll be going to summer camp, going off to college, or simply for an attractive, general storage unit for whatever adventures await your youthful loved one. I know I loved it when I received a C&N Footlocker so many Christmases ago.

Be the one to give the gift of camp this year with a gift certificate to Everything Summer Camp. They’ll absolutely love it!

Happy Holidays, Readers!

Hey, Bakers!

I think the rest of America is with me when I say that this time of year was meant for baking cookies. After all, it’s National Bake Cookies Day! Why not put your baking skills to good use on a day that has been dedicated solely to the baking of cookies? And what better way to warm yourself up from the inside out than enjoying a chewy, gooey cookie that came fresh out the oven?

From Gingerbread men to Peanut Butter Blossoms, Sugar Cookie Cutouts and classic Chocolate Chip Cookies, there’s definitely no shortage of how many different kinds of cookies you can make this time of year. Oatmeal Raisin, Snickerdoodles, Chocolate Covered Oreos, the list goes on and on. And each is a classic holiday treat!

I remember so many winters ago when the oven would keep the kitchen nice and toasty with batch after batch of cookie dough balls baking inside. My brothers and sisters would gather around the dining room table, eager for the Gingerbread men to cool. It was always so much fun to decorate these traditional cookies with frosting and Red Hots!

Kids love baking. Unfortunately, they may not always be very clean about it. However, with the proper supervision, baking is one of the best ways to spend a day of winter vacation. And with the approaching holidays, it’s always good to have some treats around the house.

This time of year, everyone here at Everything Summer Camp gets pretty serious about baking cookies just like everyone else. However, after the cookies are done, you want to show them off to people and let them see how good they turned out and how great they taste. Eager to share with one another, everyone brought their cookies in to work. Check out what we made this year and get inspired to do some baking of your own!

 Don't drool on your keyboard and thanks for reading!

- John

Hello, Everybody!

Do you cherish your hot chocolate? Do you crave your cocoa? Well, 'tis not only the season but it’s also the day to be drinking that chocolaty favorite that was made for a frigid winter day. That’s right, it’s National Hot Cocoa Day. Go make yourself a cup and come back here so you can appreciate this hot, wintry beverage while learning about it. Continue reading when your hot chocolate is ready…

So here’s a little history of hot chocolate:

First of all, if it wasn’t for monkeys, you and I might never have tasted such a fantastic drink! What do monkeys have to do with hot chocolate? Well, people didn’t start eating chocolate until we noticed our less-evolved predecessors doing it. What happened when people first saw monkeys eating the white pulp within the cocoa pods? Well, monkey see, monkey do.

The Mayans were the first people to try it out, eating the pulp and spitting the bitter beans out like the monkeys did. After some time, however, the Mayans realized the cocoa beans weren’t so bad after roasting in the sun for a while. The Mayans would soon come to ground the cocoa beans and turn the grounds into a drink. And VOILA—the world’s first hot chocolate.

The hot chocolate that you’re enjoying right now is nothing like the original Mayan cocoa drink. If you were drinking the original, Mayan cocoa drink, you probably wouldn’t like it very much. It used to be a spicy, bitter drink. Despite what we might think of it, the Mayans couldn’t get enough of it. Cocoa beans actually became more valuable than gold was in the Mayan culture!

The Mayans shared their drink with Aztec traders who were eventually conquered by Hernan Cortes and his Spanish army. Cortes took cocoa beans back to Spain with him and it eventually became a treat that the whole world loves. So as you sit there, finishing up the last of your hot cocoa, smile and be thankful for monkeys.

- John