For Better or For Worse, December 21, 1980

For Better or For Worse, December 21, 1980

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Is it December already? That must mean it's time for some Christmas related comic strips on the blog (or anything on the blog, really).

We begin this year with For Better or For Worse, a strip that, as of this writing, is still running in newspapers. These days it's only in reruns, and has been since 2008 when the story started back from the very beginning, though many of the rerun strips do have alterations and updates. It's one that I never thought of as a favorite, but that I always admired, for following the lives of so many characters as they grow and change in almost real-time. The strip is equal parts funny, dramatic, and poignant, and certainly never boring.

This particular strip is definitely relatable. Going to get a Christmas tree is always an adventure, at least as far as real ones go. Fake trees are, I imagine, much less exciting when you first get them, but they can get more and more exciting over time as they degrade and fall apart. The excitement is always worth the trouble, though, and makes for some wonderful stories, to say the least.