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Here's another Polly and Her Pals, with wonderful art by Cliff Sterrett. Carrie learns a valuable lesson here about the true meaning of Christmas and about giving and sharing, or almost does. Of course, Angel doesn't seem too happy with either her or Paw giving her cookies to the birds. To be honest, I think the birds would be happier with seeds than with cookies. Either way, the lesson is not that it's okay to take cookies from children at Christmas, though I don't think it's wrong to ask them if they'd share one with you.

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Here we have a Christmas Eve in the Nebb household, with Junior falling asleep and dreaming of Santa's visit. Santa seems like an old grouch in it, though I'd imagine Junior is merely projecting his own fears of inadequacy onto him, and that Santa wouldn't be that way in real life. Junior clearly believes he's been bad and doesn't deserve toys, and is afraid that even though he sneaks out of bed to see Santa, the experience may not turn out the way he'd hoped. Thankfully, though, he believes his father will stick up for him despite his failings. It's interesting that Junior thinks so highly of his father that he turns out to be a better presence in his dream than even Santa Claus.

Who knew a silly Christmas comic strip could be so deep?

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Here we have an example of Mutt having a ridiculous idea and nearly pulling it off, but instead giving in to his vices and messing everything up. It's a surprise that all Jeff got was a face full of soot, and didn't catch on fire. Why are these guys still friends, exactly?

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I like this particular strip, because it shows who Hank Ketcham's Dennis the Menace really is: not a menace by intention, but just a kid who is inadvertently always causing trouble. After all, he's here having a tea party with a girl, and the only trouble he causes is upsetting Joey over the presents he might not get. I mean, I'm sure Joey believes he's been good, but who knows what his mother thinks about it, and what she's been telling Santa.

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It's not entirely clear why Bugs is spending Christmas at Porky's house, but I guess to get a visit from Santa you have to have a chimney, and I don't think Bugs' rabbit hole has one.

Of course, the most upsetting part about this strip is that when Santa crashes on Porky's roof, the reindeer just keep going without him. I guess they're very concerned with keeping to the schedule. It is quite a hectic night, after all.