Red and Rover by Brian Basset for December 08, 2021

It’s rude to interrupt, Dad.

Rover would NOT do anything like that. He’s too much of a gentleman!!

Sorry, but my 1st thought was the same as dad’s

There’s a cartoon where one dog asks “did anyone water the tree?” all the others say “I did”

Dad is off his Christmas game this year.

Yeah! Geesh Dad!

Come on Dad! Hope you are not the Dad in Christmas Story who thinks he is the master of the world @ getting the XMAS tree on the cheap.

An aluminum Christmas tree might be a better option!

Oh, my goodness…that is almost the exact same conversation my father & I used to have! He always got our tree the weekend before Christmas, and for those exact same reasons. Those are also the reasons he gave for wanting an artificial tree; I told him that I would water the tree and vacuum the needles if we kept getting real trees, so he agreed. Tree-care was my job every Christmas after that until I moved out.

I guess my question is, the trees are drying out on the lot already so you might as well bring it on into the house and enjoy it. Unless you’re planning to fresh/cut one.

I actually laughed out loud! Thanks my little darlings (Dad and Brian) for making me happy so early!

Today’s strip reminds me that my birthday is in mid-December and my family always put up our Christmas tree a day or two after my birthday so that my birthday and Christmas would remain separate.

When I was a kid my dad swore by putting molasses in the water to make the tree last longer—but this always backfired because the cat liked the molasses water better than the plain boring stuff in her own bowl, and we had to refill the tree stand constantly. At least she never got interested in tree climbing.

Come on, Dad…give Rover a break

Love Red’s horrified face in the last panel. That moment when innocence meets prejudice …

One thing I learned working with children: how often we wrongly attribute our thoughts and motives to them, who are still, truly innocent!

Rover better watch out for the electric lights when he helps water the tree.

I had dogs in the past who would drink the tree water. One watered the tree himself and shorted out the lights. I had to pull a few cats out of the middle of the trees. The hamster just rolled around it in the hamster ball. I am pretty sure that one year, a long time ago, one of the beasties knocked a tree right over. I still have a few glass bulbs that are over 100 years old that I inherited.

Keep after ’em, boys. Daddy “Scrooge” needs to get in the spirit of the Season!

The urine would be better for the tree than simple water.