For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for December 09, 2017

Family togetherness, no. Greed of material possessions, yes.

I guess from this we are to learn that:

1. Michael doesn’t really care about seeing his grandparents, his cousins or a prairie winter. ( I am kind of interested in seeing the other cousins. We have only seen one cousin at the farm in the past.)

2. Michael has some choice in whether or not he goes with the family to the farm. (In my family, my son in his youth would not have this choice.)

3. Michael has the same disease as the rest of his family that causes him to raise an index finger in the air to make pronouncements of significance.

4. Michael values presents above family.

5. The farm must be a really awful place to stay and Michael knows it.

6. Michael doesn’t care about seeing his aunt and his uncle so much that Elly does not even bother trying to persuade him using their names.

7. When Elly defeats Michael she likes to walk away with her hands in her pockets and her nose in the air.

I’m surprised Elly didn’t drop the “because I said so”. Who knew Mike actually had an option to go or not?

Michael is about the right age to resist doing things with family, but I doubt Elly would leave him at home.

We didn’t go to ‘the farm’ for Christmas but for my Grandmother’s birthday ever 10th of September and I looked forward to it. The kids had so much fun, they had trouble getting us to come into the house to eat ! ! !

Can’t argue with that….. ;-)

She should have said,“Whether you go or stay, your presents are going to the farm.” And if they are not opened by you, they will be donated to charity."

So if Elly and John are spending Christmas at the farm, then we’re getting really close to Elly’s impromptu pregnancy. The next major storyline before we get April is Lizzie getting her glasses for the first time.

still holds up 20 yrs after Lynn 1st drew it !

My kids go to the farm every Christmas to see their grandmother and cousins, and it will be strange when they don’t want to (my 12 year old doesn’t have the inducements to stay home that Mike has!)

I think it’s not that he doesn’t like the farm; it’s that he wants to stay home so he can’t hang out with his sweetie. Young love I see like that. I can’t believe his parents would really let him stay home by himself while the rest of the family leaves town for several days, though.

A bunch of presents trumps teenage angst!

Will Martha be there?

Elly got her point across without getting ugly. However, if I had done the same thing in my youth, I would be told in no uncertain terms, that I WOULD be going whether I wanted to or not.

Okay, I can understand why Michael doesn’t want to go to the farm. It’s his Christmas vacation, he wants to hang out with Martha or his buddies. The only kid at the farm is cousin Laura who’s younger than him and a girl, so it’ll be like having two Elizabeths to deal with. No guys to go to movies with, or hang out at their houses or play hockey with. No Martha. And CHORES to help with. Plus I think he winds up sleeping on the floor because they didn’t have enough beds for everyone. At 12, that probably sounds like a lousy way to spend Christmas vacation.

Lynn’s Notes:

For many years, my husband and I helped out on his sister’s farm in Manitoba. For two or three weeks every summer, we did everything from seeding to combining to feeding the hogs. One year when the kids were older, we went for Christmas.

Where does Michael think he will stay with the family gone? A twelve year old isn’t ready to stay by himself for several days. That would be an invitation for a disaster.

My cousin ad her wife live in Saskatchewan. We’d invite them down, but my cousin is a vet. They have room for us and we will be going up there a few days before and returning a few days after. Looking forward to it.