Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for December 23, 2023

But isn’t Santa sanctimonious with his good and naughty lists?

Effort alone still counts.

Justify all you want, you will still have to face the consequences.

Welcome to an important lesson about life.

Sure you will still get presents Calvin. After all Santa’s naughty and nice list seems to correlate with parents’ SES. The higher the SES the higher the value of the presents.

The little cretin will experience his epiphany on Monday!!!

I believe that Mom and Dad will burn all the coal Calvin will receive—and then will be arrested for causing air pollution.

There was an animated cartoon called “The Fight Before Christmas” where The Powerpuff Girls are pitted against Princess Morbucks, a spoiled rich brat so heinous thar she makes Calvin almost saintly.

Needless to say, the “good guys” win, and Princess ends up on Santa’s permanent “naughty” list (along with Calvin, Dennis the Menace, et. al) and is shipped, bound and gagged, from the North Pole to federal prison.

The flirting just keeps on going……..

She shouldn’t have said that. Now he has nothing to lose.

It’s the thought that counts.

I’d like to see her sneak up on Calvin and not miss a few times.

all that missing is why he stored up all that ammo on Tuesday…

Cal qualifies for a law degree. He waffles well.

But are you missing on purpose Calvin?

In for a penny, in for a pound.

I really like Hobbes’ expression.

I sure that’s right, Calvin. I’m sure Santa will understand. I’m as sure as I am that my 6-year-old tomcat will not be visited by Santa again this year. The fifth Christmas in a row.

Excuses, excuses, Calvin.

They are soooooooooooo getting married when they get older.

Careful, Calvin.

There’s a spelling mistake in this strip, and therefore in some of the comments. The korrect speling is “santamonious”.

Reminds me of the Married…with Children line:

Peg Bundy – “Hi, Honey! Did you miss me?”

Al Bundy – “With every bullet so far.”

“Naughty” and “Nice” are relative.

I knew Susie would show soon… and Calvin hasl been stockpiling, too…

Calvin’s rationalizations are not rational.

Just keep missing.

Hey Cal, ya better stop while you can…remember the beating you got from Susie last year?

Rationalization. That most underappreciated holiday tradition.

Calvin’s been using his dad’s word a day calendar again…

When I was in second grade my best friend and I had a short-lived falling out that we expressed mostly through passing notes back and forth. It was December and I almost immediately played the Santa card. I was completely in earnest. He was . . . unimpressed, to say the least.

“It’s not intended murder if the person objects to my attempt and my attempt fails”

The Gospel According to Calvin clearly delineates the facts: There are almost sins (what Hobbs’s non-sensical insensibility comments usually qualify for), outright sins (what Moe definitely succeeds at), and near-miss sins (what Calvin just did). A near miss is as good as you can get… especially at Christmas!

There was a strip where Hobbes said Santa would go out out to the reindeer stables to fill Calvin’s stocking for harassing Susie. If that happened actually, Dad would say it builds character.

Susie: Put Calvin’s head in the snow as usual.