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I don't remember having to return very many presents that I've been given over the years, either for Christmas or for birthdays. Perhaps once or twice. On the whole, though, I've always felt bad about doing it because it seems ungrateful to the person giving the gift. If someone has gone out of their way to give me something that they thought I would like, the least I can do is at least use it or try to enjoy it.

I can understand it when it comes to clothing, however, which seems to be what today's strip is referring to. Giving someone clothing is always difficult, especially children who are growing and who it may be hard to keep track of what size they are at any given moment. Using the returns as an opportunity to get entirely different clothing seems a bit ungrateful, though. I would have to return it and get something either exactly the same or as similar as possible in order for me to not feel bad about it.

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Gift giving is hard. I've never been good at it. I'm never sure what someone else would like to receive. It appears the Candy family has the same issue, and what they've done is give gifts that they would like to have given back to them when the person they gave them to doesn't like them. It all works out in the end, I guess.

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Terr'ble Thompson was an unfortunately short lived comic created by Gene Deitch, who was better known for his work in animation. The strip only lasted about six months, but Deitch would adapt it for a Terrytoons animated series called Tom Terrific a couple years later. It lasted only a couple of years, but reruns could be seen on the Captain Kangaroo show for many years after that. Terr'ble Thompson was known as the "Hero of Hist'ry," or at least that's what he called himself. He was so called because had some kind of time traveling ability that allowed him to go to any time period and meet various historical figures.

I guess Santa Claus counts as an historical figure, because we have Thompson meeting him here. This is the conclusion to a story about Santa Claus wanting to stay home for Christmas because no one believes in him anymore. The elves seem to feel the same way. Thompson uses his shirt and hat to make Santa a "beard cozy", which rejuvenates him and his elves and makes him want to give out presents at Christmas again. The decision to stay home must have happened at the very last minute, because the 4th panel makes it look like the presents were all ready to go but just weren't loaded onto the sleigh yet. Maybe Santa didn't really want to stay home, but was just thinking about it. Good thing Thompson gave him the little push he needed in order to make the right decision.

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I don't have a lot to say about this one, other than the fact that I just love it. I love the clown car of Santas that just keep coming out of the chimney. I love the dialogue in the 2nd panel that so simply sets up the whole situation. Of course, I just like Ella Cinders generally, and this one in particular is just great.

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I've never been much of a fan of Li'l Abner, because unlike certain other strips like Walt Kelly's Pogo which seems to actually have some respect for its Southern US swamp denizens, Al Capp always seemed to make every joke at the expense of the hillbilly folk. It felt like we were laughing at them when we should have been laughing with them. However, I think today's strip is very cute. Sure, Pa Yokum in his advanced age still believes in Santa Claus who we all know isn't real, but his belief is seen as something that should be preserved rather than ridiculed. Even for those of us who don't believe in a real, living Santa, I think continuing to talk about folkloric characters like him as if they do exist still adds something fun to the holiday season. Plus, if you're lucky, maybe you'll have a dream about meeting him.

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It's always surreal to see media based on puppet characters that portrays them as regular people who walk around and go places on their own. While in the fiction of the puppet world they do have their own lives, there's an audience understanding that these things are being operated by a person. If it's something like The Muppets or Sesame Street where the puppeteers aren't really seen or shown, then it's not as weird, but in the case of Mortimer and Charlie, the lack of Edgar Bergen is noticeable. The ventriloquist is an integral part of the ventriloquist act, and having the dummies walk and talk without him just doesn't feel right.

On top of that, we see that in the fiction of this dummy world the dummies are actually the size of ventriloquist dummies. Had Edgar Bergen actually been in the comic, he would appear normal size, and they would appear the size that they do in his act. This allows for the punchline of today's strip, which shows Mortimer Snerd, who is small enough to fit into a baby's cradle, falling asleep in the baby furniture display. Why he has to get yelled at by a disgruntled wife in order for that to happen, I'm not sure. Having Mortimer wait in line for the phone booth forever, ask Charlie what kind of star he wants, and then go back to the store only to find it closed would work just as well. But I guess that wouldn't be Edgar Bergen-esque enough.

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As we have seen previously, on multiple occasions, Mickey Finn's Uncle Phil is a cheapskate who will take the easy solution to a problem if faced with one. Adding Mickey's Uncle Owney into the mix is a recipe for trouble, and clearly both Mickey and Tom know it. Of course, the reversal at the end lets us know that they're not all bad, and that cheapskates can still have a good heart. It's not clear whose idea this was. Perhaps Uncle Phil would have done this on his own, but saw an opportunity to not have to spring for a fake beard when he saw the one on Uncle Owney's face. Or perhaps Uncle Phil would have spent the $200 in one or multiple of the places that Mickey and Tom looked for them, but Uncle Owney convinced him otherwise. Either way, it's a cute strip.

I think it's also significant that the uncles go and give presents to the orphan children at Christmas. The character Mickey Finn was based on a real Irish-American policeman, Mickey Brennan, that the creator Lank Leonard had seen in Port Chester, New York. Leonard was impressed by his kindness to children, as he acted as a crossing guard at one of the local schools when it let out each day. This trait was transferred to the fictional Mickey as well, and judging by today's strip, it seems he learned it from either one or both of his uncles.

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Harold Teen was quite popular in its day. Popular enough, in fact, that it received two movie adaptations. The first, in 1928, was a silent film that starred Arthur Lake, who would later go on to star as Dagwood Bumstead in the Blondie movies (all 28 of them) and TV show. The second, in 1934, is notable for being one of the last screenplays written by Alfred Cohn, screenwriter of the first "talkie," The Jazz Singer. I haven't seen either of these, but over the past few years I've been attempting to watch every single movie I can find that is based on a newspaper comic, so I'll get to them eventually.

As for today's comic strip, in a previous installment we saw that in the town that Harold Teen lives in every boy seems to have a crush on local girl Lillums Lovewell. Harold is clearly the one we're meant to root for to win her over, he being the title character and all, and thankfully he does so in this case. It seems that either the salesman is very good at his job, or none of the high school guys are very good at coming up with creative gift ideas, or possibly both, leading them all to buy the same gift. I don't think it would be a problem for Lillums to receive multiple compacts, though. You never know when you might lose or misplace one and need another.

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Ferd Johnson, who created Texas Slim, is probably better known for assisting Frank Willard on Moon Mullins and taking over the strip after Willard died. Not long after he started working with Willard, he was also offered his own strip, Texas Slim, and which was published in various forms from 1925 to 1958. It started off as a Sunday only strip, was canceled, got revived as a topper for Johnson's other strip Lovey Dovey, ended when that strip ended, and was again revived as a Sunday only strip, this time titled Texas Slim and Dirty Dalton. However, as we see here, Dalton was not always featured in the title panel. It came to its ultimate end in 1958, when Johnson took over Moon Mullins.

The strip generally revolved around the titular Texas Slim and the ranch that he worked at, which was owned by Dirty Dalton. As his name suggests, he wasn't the most pleasant of characters, and as we see here, those who work at the ranch don't seem to like him or his Christmas presents much. You can't say he isn't thoughtful, though; he gave all of them exactly what they wanted.