For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for December 10, 2023

The star probably wanted to be a dinosaur.

“But I don’t wanna be a pirate!”

Kids

I love Christmas pageant spoofs, (much more than actual Christmas pageants) and this one rings true.

Looks like April has inherited her mother’s ugly expression (see yesterday’s strip) as well as her big mouth!!

Definitely her mother’s daughter.

I love how they thoughtfully wrote the names of the bell, star and angels on the children’s costumes for the benefit of audience members who are hard of hearing and couldn’t hear the narration.

But what about the members with poor eyesight? “Hey Martha, I forgot my glasses. One kid said she is a candle and one kid said she is a bell. What is that five pointed yellow thing the silent kid is holding up supposed to be?”

Who will tame her?

The sign says, “The ABCs of Christmas”….why did “candle” precede “bell”? And do they have enough children (not to mention IDEAS for each letter) to cover the alphabet? Stuff like this keeps me up nights. LOL

I remember the first pageant I was ever in. I & another mom were asked if our 2-year-olds could be angels, and asked if we could be Big Angels & hold them. What was really funny was we were both REALLY big angels: we were both pregnant! So, there I was: 40 years old, pregnant, dressed as an angel holding my 2-year-old angel. (Next year was better: my husband & I were Mary & Joseph – yeah, I know, I was a really old Mary – our new baby was the Baby Jesus, who slept through the whole thing – and our now 3-year-old was a sheep.)

Just for that, you can look forward to finding a lump of coal in your stocking, you selfish unreasonable brat!

I never wanted to be a bell, ringing day after day and making angelic choirs sing. I wanted to be… a lumberjack

Be giant steeple bell, with an actual steeple bell, and get BIG reaction. A herald indeed.

Doesn´t she get on your wick?

You tell’em, April! You make a lovely bell, but I’m sure you’d be a glorious candle!

She has grown up so quickly……..

The side eye from April in panel 1 is a hoot.

If both parents saw this…

John: I guess we can forget having a multimillionaire Hollywood actress support us in our old age.

Elly: Dear!

I’m a bell, an’ when I ring,

All the angel choirs sing.

I thought angels got their wings every time a bell rings.

But being a candle means you’ll have that pesky waxy build up.

The star is upside down. Besides, it was a UFO leading the Wise Men to the birth of Christ…

Aypo needs a playdate with Shannon in another popular strip that indulges brats. That brat would sort Aypo out in short order.

I’d rather be a candle than a bell

Yes I would – if I only could

What was the “A” ? They never tell us. An ‘Angel’ maybe?

Love the "deer in the headlights’ look of the angel up next!

Looks like Aypo is gone and she is acting like her head shape again.

Hint: April’s hairdo resembles a piece of male anatomy after circumcision.

But she spoke so clearly!

Makes me wonder how many times April asked for the candle role, just to have her so-called friend take it away from her.

“…and that’s not more than I can HANDLE!”

Now you can be a bell with a red bottom.

Frustrating, when you’re involved in something and can’t be or do what you want to.

So, is this another strip shown out of order? This has to be at least 3 years in the future, since April is only 3 years old at this point. The dialogue that these toddlers are supposed to be reciting is way more complex than children of that age would be able to handle.

Canadian Christmas is……. different.

Where is the hook!!!!!!!

What a brat.

Good to see Elly is not worrying about Elizabeth anymore. If something happens to her, Elly still has two kids out of three, and that ain’t bad.

Like the Royal Family, Elly has the heir and the spare.

this comments section does NOT disappoint X-D

That was bratty.

Reminds me of the piano recital when I was about 8 or 9. The event was pretty formal and, I thought, phony and stilted: suits, white gloves, combed cowlicks — you get the idea. Several of my piano teacher’s students participated. She assigned me to play “Autumn Leaves” or some such sappy drivel. Although I practiced for a week or more, my heart wasn’t in the piece at all. When it was my turn, I sat at the piano and the teacher went through the introduction and, I think — for I wasn’t listening to her — described the piece. Instead of the programed opus, I played a tune that I really liked: “Turkey in the Straw.”

Stubborn kid!

Not cool, April. Santa will be very disappointed in you.

now I remember why I hated this brat.

I’m wondering what the other parts of the Christmas alphabet are – I think I saw an E for Elf somewhere in the background.

When she gets home, she’ll be a dead-ringer.

Well, she is certainly showing authenticity in her performance — so much so that she will never live it down! :-D

Tell her to lose the attitude or she won’t be in the pageant