Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for December 15, 2023

I could use some snow myself!

…lead us not into temptation…

Just go sledding instead.

It’s a hard life. But, someone has to live it……

You had to open your big mouth…

The only ones he pastes with snowballs are Hobbes and Susie.

And they always successfully retaliate. But I suppose Santa doesn’t judge them; he understands their reasoning.

Remember when Dr. Phil put a bunch of fat people in a house with cookies hidden all around the place to provide them with temptation?

There’s a bit more to being good than just not pasting people with snowballs. Not a lot more, but it’s there.

Life is a…

Oh heck. Just enjoy it.

So, you know, i really don’t see Calvin as a bad boy.. He really doesn’t do anything hateful.. just throwing snowballs and water balloons? I think he is bored with circumstances and people around him ..i mean, i don’t want to diss his parents but they seem to be pretty much into their own stuff and not really engaging with him that much.. Probably because it doesn’t serve the story line, though, right? But still… Calvin is bored and trying to get others to engage.

He doesn’t need snow to get into trouble. He could just pelt Susie with water balloons.

As I mentioned earlier in my reply to DaveG1960, today is my 57th birthday. I have been reading Calvin and Hobbes for thirty-six years now as I discovered this brilliant comic strip in November 1987 when I was a few weeks from my 21st birthday. I have two nephews by my older sister who are aged forty-four and forty-two. My first nephew was born in 1979 so he was the same age as Calvin when this strip started in 1985. My second nephew was a six-year-old like Calvin when I started reading the strip.

In the first Calvin and Hobbes strip that I read, Hobbes was shown as a stuffed doll and Calvin was asking Mom to check under the bed for monsters. Mom checked. Calvin asked her to check inside the closet as well but Mom just said, “I’m sure there are no monsters in your closet, goodnight.” When Mom was gone, Hobbes was shown as a living tiger. Calvin said to Hobbes, “I bet that’s where they are, They’ll be coming out to eat us now Mom’s gone.” Calvin and Hobbes turned the bedroom light on and opened the closet door. The monsters inside were destroyed as light destroys the forces of darkness. I assumed from this strip that Hobbes and the monsters were products of Calvin’s imagination. It wasn’t until May 1988 that I started to suspect otherwise.

As I’ve mentioned before, there are two strips in the first Calvin and Hobbes book which I read – the second one published “Something Under The Bed Is Drooling” which refers to the monsters under Calvin and Hobbes’ bed – which show that Hobbes is alive when Calvin isn’t with him. Those were the two strips that first made me question whether Hobbes was part of Calvin’s marvellous imagination. I let my two nephews borrow the book and my older nephew asked me whether Hobbes was meant to be real. I replied that I thought Hobbes was supposed to be part of Calvin’s imagination and my nephew replied, “That’s what I thought but sometimes the things he does seem real.”

I’m just happy to see it start to snow so we can see Calvin’s snow goons. They always make my day!

Nope.

Snow adds the moral dimension to Christmas.

But… Calvin m’lad… you can make SNOW GOONS Woo hoo!!!

Just because you have the ammo, doesnt mean that you will have a competitor.

Just seeing his facial expression in the final panel…

That snow fall will bury the entire house in an hour! Bare ground in first panel, can’t see his shoes in the last one. That’s a BLIZZARD!

Deliver Calvin from temptation!

Calvin, it’s choices and consequences. Which do you want most?

Your Christmas present: A snowcone maker!

You seem to have forgotten your behavior the rest of the year, Calvin.

Cal wants control made easy. He wants it done for him. So, if he doesn’t have the snow, he doesn’t have the inclination to snowball Susie or Hobbes. Thus he can claim being a good guy for Christmas. He thinks he wins when he can avoid doing something he shouldn’t, although he still wants to. Unfortunately for his psyche, it does snow, and his ’’normal" personality takes over.

Resist, Calvin.

And when he asks for snow, he never gets it, that’s life!

Sometimes you get what you wish for, Calvin. Now go find Susie…

Mother Nature is sometimes a b*tch.

No, no, no! It’s “And lead us NOT into temptation!”

You wouldn’t want to waste a good temptation.

Is NOT doing something bad the same as doing good? There are a lot of bad things Calvin doesn’t do, but could you really call him a good boy?

not good at resisting temptation, is he?

It’s called Karma.

Every action – including inaction – carries a price tag.

Not me thanks!

Calvin should move to where I live. The Christmas snow usually doesn’t come until Valentine’s Day!

At least he can be good for the next hour or two.

Back in the day when this strip was originally drawn, those snowflakes all had to be drawn in by hand.

There’s no business like snow business like no business I snow. :)

No snow here we are getting much needed lite rain. Western part did get snow.

At least he’s not making water balloons

As usual, Calvin is attempting to avoid responsibility. One can only be good or bad if there’s a voluntary choice. Calvin cannot claim being good if no choice is involved.

Calvin likes to get the rules straight too. Here’s an old favorite of mine:

https://www.gocomics.Com/calvinandhobbes/1990/2/23

It’s snowing on Calvin’s parade.