THIS Boxing Day I'm one of the many Aussies who will get up as usual and head off to work.

No public holiday for me.

No sleep-in, no chance to recover from a hangover, no relaxing day with the family.

Before you all start to feel sorry for me, I have to say, being at work today can be a blessing.

There will be no temptations to spend the day indulging in leftovers from yesterday's over-catered-for Christmas lunch.

I'm already starting to get a Santa-like physique from pre-Christmas festivities, not to mention the main event.

Pity Santa didn't bring me some willpower (or won't power) for Christmas.

There will be no sitting at home being forced to watch mind-numblingly boring hours of cricket either.

While I could have enjoyed a relaxing day, kicking back reading a book and enjoying the air-conditioning, the regular yells and screams of "Heeee's Ouuttt" at the television can be too distracting to concentrate.

Another thing I won't have to do is join the crowds at the Boxing Day sales, enduring torturous lines of people queuing up to get that bargain.

While I love a bargain as much as the next person, I'm not a fan of the crowds, or fighting with someone over the last of the 80% off Christmas wrapping paper.

But the best part of working on Boxing Day is I won't be home to do the clean-up.

Hosting Christmas lunch at my house this year seemed like a good idea at the time.

No travelling required, everyone would come to us.

But that also meant weeks of preparation, cooking, cleaning and making a bit more of an effort to decorate the house.

It was certainly worth it.

A day with family and loved ones, opening presents, laughing, eating, drinking and being merry, some merrier than others, is how Christmas should be.

But the merriment soon wears off when the clean-up begins.

Piles of wrapping paper and empty boxes once filled with Christmas gifts are just the start, then there is finding new homes for new toys.

So while I am kicking back, I mean working hard, at the office today, I will be thinking of all you poor souls who do have a public holiday.