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This one is just incredibly wholesome, and Annie here has the attitude that I wish far more adults would have. Annie was, of course, an orphan who was adopted into a wealthy family, yet she doesn't take it for granted. She's grateful for what she has, and she remembers that there are others who are still in the position that she used to be in. If only we could all act this way, the world would be in a much better state.
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Yes, Winnie Winkle's younger brother is named Perry Winkle. Perry was an orphan living on the streets who was adopted by Winnie's parents, and is therefore not well-versed in proper etiquette. The Spud Finnegan he mentions in the first panel is a member of the local kids' gang the Rinkydinks, who Perry hung around with and was shown with more and more as the strip continued.
I really like this particular strip, because although it shows a very stark contrast between Perry's behavior and the behavior of the other children, and although they do laugh at the end, Reggie and the Hyatt family are very kind and welcoming to Perry and are tolerant of his errant behavior. I can imagine many other strips that wouldn't be nearly as nice to their protagonists, and would most definitely end with the child being flung unceremoniously out the front door. Actually, I'm pretty sure I've read a few of those.
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The Peanuts character Schroeder was a massive fan of Beethoven, and over the years Charles Schulz had shown him celebrating Beethoven's birthday on December 17. In 1967, however, he obviously was busy or something because he forgot. Poor Schroeder.
Also, Snoopy is apparently on his way to the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. He never made it there, however, as when he originally set out he didn't realize he had no way of crossing the ocean.
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Thimble Theater, and the character of Popeye, were created by E.C. Segar, but several artists and writers have continued the strip long after Segar's death. Here we have a strip by Tom Sims and Bob Zaboly, featuring the famous glutton J. Wellington Wimpy. Wimpy was known by those who read the strip and those who watched the cartoons as a man with a bit of a black hole for a stomach, but 5 entire turkeys is even more than I imagined he could handle. The strip seems to indicate that he had appointments to eat all of those dinners, so it's not necessarily his fault entirely. I imagine each of them were just kind enough to invite him over to eat a holiday meal, and Wimpy graciously accepted each invitation. How could he refuse? Obviously there were consequences, but I don't imagine turkey sickness lasts more than a day or two.
A fun side note: While the popular chicken restaurant chain Popeye's was not named after the comic strip sailor man but was instead named after…
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The escalation in this Christmas sequence is so great. Every time you think Ignatz has been foiled, he is already way ahead, even though the logic of it is still completely absurd. Given how many times Ignatz has been locked in jail, though, I guess it only stands to reason that if hanging up four stockings is against the law Ignatz would be the first to know, and would be the first to do whatever he could to dodge the law. He wouldn't want Officer Pupp giving him any new Christmas lodgings.