Baby Blues by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott for December 29, 2024

He who hesitates is a volunteer.

Like magic they disappear.

Darryl, you’re getting slow in your old age at that game.

It’s good the kids disappeared.

What’s your hurry, Wanda? It’s not even New Year’s yet. And after what Darryl and Hammie went through LAST week….

That’s a good way to get rid of the kids!

The fourth poof is NOT the charm…..

for a moment there, I coulda swore they had a dozen kids!

She sure knows how to clear out a room!

But it’s not even New Years Day yet!!!!

“Afterwards, Darryl, you can help me finish the Christmas cookies! What, no poof? Good!”

Nice try, dad. Now make the most of it; just for fun wrap a couple of blinking string lights around your schnozola.

Kinda like owning a boat? When it comes time to take care of it, POOF!

Is it time to take them down in Usa already? Garfield has the same subject? hTps://www.gocomics.coM/garfield/2024/12/29

He not as fast as he used to be… I fell into the same trap…

Why do you get goodies when you are putting up the tree but none when you are taking it down?

Got to take down the outside stuff but it is raining all week. What fun.

No, he’s been drafted.

A glass coffee table and three active kids. Oooooh

We wait until the 12th day of Christmas, plus that’s when we all can get together.

Mom’s magic power! Now for a nap!

Our offices at work moved to a new building a year and a half ago. At our old building, the Christmas decorations all appeared like magic when we came back from Thanksgiving, and when we came back from New Year’s it was like they had never existed. In our new building, they took them all down on Friday, in the middle of the workday (I don’t remember when they went up). It was like seeing sausages being made. :-(

What, all three kids farted and then disappeared so as not to be held accountable?

Already? It’s not even St Patrick’s day yet!

We’re never in a hurry to put everything away. The lights and decorations cancel the January gloom. We’re retired and have plenty of time!

And that’s how you get rid of the kids!

As a kid, you never wanted to help take down the Christmas tree because it meant the end of celebration. But you helped anyway. There was some solace in that we could begin building a Christmas tree fort in the backyard.

That’s one way to get some peace and quiet.

Traditionally I take mine down January 6th but I haven’t had a tree to take down in a couple of decades, my Charlie Brown Tree goes bye bye Jan 2nd.

Not until Twelfth Night

Do your duty, Daryl.

Those magic words. Silence.

Is it late February already?

My job is simply to pull out the totes, put up the tree and lights and then take down the lights and tree and put away the totes, in that order. Everything else in between is lovingly handled by the missus. Each and every ornament and sundry bauble are careful placed on the tree and around the rooms. At the end, they are all carefully packed away in totes for the next year.

That all stays up until after New Year’s.

Jan. 6 is the end of Christmas, Twelfth night.

Huh, I thought she just wanted some peace amd quiet.

And in some Christian traditions, gifts are not exchanged on Dec. 25th. They are given on Jan. 6. Instead of the children leaving milk and cookies for Santa the children leave hands full of straw for the camels of the Wise Men. Of course, the parents remove the straw and leave presents while the children sleep.

Should enjoy decorations at least until Jan 1

Wanda, you just found the way to get the kids in bed real easy like.

What’s the hurry with the tree removal???????

And here I thought she was just trying to get some comfy alone time, on the couch with Daryl, in front of the TV. Premature laughter.

Use the argument that the tree stays up until Epiphany so you don’t have to take it down yet. Then, on Epiphany, argue that it should stay up through Candlemas (February 2). If you study enough obscure medieval holidays, you can baffle people into letting your procrastination keep it up at least until Lent - or until they get fed up and take it down without you, and you’ve gotten out of the chore entirely. :)

It would have been just as much fun if Wanda had only said that to get a little quiet. But actually, I was surprised that the kids weren’t all screaming “AAAAAHHHHH! NOT YET!!!”