Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for November 27, 2024

Playing it where it lies

No, Arlo. Listening is bad enough. Remembering just isn’t fair.

She spilled the beans. Arlo will remember to remind her every year.

“I’ve been making this stuff up every Christmas for years.”

Somehow I’m very sure stuff is not the word she used…

I actually started writing the provenance of our Christmas ornaments last year when I took them down.

I enjoy putting the tree up each year but our extensive collection of ornaments are the exclusive provenance of my Janis. “Exclusive” to the extent that I don’t even know where they live the rest of the year. Nor am I allowed to hang any of them or, God forbid, move one when my final decoration step of laying on of the garland seems to require it. And my Janis treasured the “Provenance” to each decoration’s Who, What, When, Where and Why. Many years ago we retired our oversized tree and the many downsized handmade ornaments were returned to their creators. Hopefully, they each found a place on their own respective Christmas tree. I apologize for the length of my Comment. It seems I lack the ability to express myself as concisely as Mr. Johnson.

Amazing and Hilarious lie?

Brevity is the soul of wit. Steal from the best.

She actually got them at Dollar Tree.

I love putting out the Christmas ornaments. All of our favorite ornaments have stories behind them. Most of the stories are real,

When I was in my 30’s my Morher started leaving the tree decorating to me. She always told me what a great job I did yet when I came over for lunch I would notice some of the decorations were in a different place. Sniff sniff, I miss her !!

In the final panel, is Arlo wide-eyed just about what Janis said? Or is he starting to wonder if he can take her word about anything she says?

Arlo always seems very likeable. Janis, not so much.

Some people make stuff up simply because they just can’t say I Don’t Know

I’d sure like to know why Janis felt compelled to make up such stories…and to do so for years. It’s got to be self serving in some manner. BTW, even though he remembers what she said last year about the ornaments, I really don’t think Arlo gives two stitches as to where each ornament comes from.

T-day is the end of the holiday season until my wife’s birthday in January.

When I was a kid, my mom decorated the tree pretty much the same each year. She was certainly a creature of habit. All the ornaments were the glass globe type. They were stored in a worn old vacuum cleaner box in the top of the closet until Christmas time came around again.On our tree, my wife uses all different types of ornaments. They all have some special memory attached to them, like made by one of the kids or a photo of one of the grandkids or some “cute” trinket. We buy a new one every year, usually during our travels, to commemorate the place or event. Somehow, she remembers when and where we got each one. My mind is unable to retain such things for long.

Marriage is one big test.

Janis is funny, I actually laughed at this.

To the A&J historians – do we know whether the niece is the daughter of Arlo’s or Janis’ sibling? Has there ever been reference to A&J’s brother(s) and/or sister(s)?

I guess we paused the “will we or won’t we move” arc for the holidays.

Liar…liar…panties on fire………!

It’s nice to have a story to go with those special ornaments but if those stories are made up and they were just ornaments acquired on the Dec 26th Christmas sale at Wal Mart, why fantasize, just enjoy them. The bulk of the good ornaments that I have were acquired over 3 years of my being stationed in Germany over 50 years ago. Most are hand made wooden ones from local wood carvers. Sad that no one will want them from the throw away generation that exists today, after I am gone. However, I still got some good years left to go……

Interesting. I can take this two ways. She’s been testing if he’s been paying attention or he’s wondering what else she lies about.

Janis IS surprised – that Arlo actually remembered one of her ‘lies’ from last Christmas!

So it’s not just MY wife that does this all the time!!!

Just because our eyes are closed, our supersonic ears hear every word and file it away for use later.

When I was a kid, the older relatives would tell stories about their younger days and I was amazed at the details they could remember about names and dates and so forth. As I got older, I realized that the details of those stories changed regularly, but the other old folks rarely pointed out inconsistencies, even when they were involved in the event. I concluded that social story telling is more about confidently proclaiming a good yarn than having the facts straight. Sometimes I wish somebody had written down those tales, but I’m afraid that the bits of history that I’ve managed to collect will end up in the landfill when I’m gone…

Learning lessons from the past seems to be deeply unpopular these days…