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I couldn't find very much information about this strip. Even the Comiclopedia entry for the cartoonist, Bill Williams, doesn't mention it at all. It ran from 1965-1971, and appears to be about the woman that Santa is speaking to, Dolly. From the few strips I saw, she seems to work a variety of different jobs, possibly because she's not very good at keeping them. I'm not sure exactly why Santa would need to go through Customs, unless his flying reindeer were unavailable somehow and he had to take a plane. I guess even magical reindeer need a sick day now and then.

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Tiny Tim was a comic strip created by Stanley Link, about a small boy named Tim and his sister Dotty, who were only two inches tall. The strip ran from 1933 to 1958, and over the course of the strip the brother and sister grew to eight inches tall, then to normal child size, then back to two inches tall, and then gained the ability to switch back and forth between two inches and normal child size. They had many adventures in the tiny world over the course of the strip's run, and gained some animal friends along the way, including the bird, Paddy, who you see in the final panel.

This particular strip is interesting, because I'd never thought about Santa Claus preparing for Christmas Eve in this way. I thought the myth was that Santa could use his magic to shrink to the right size so he could fit in any chimney, or whatever opening was available to him, so he didn't need to worry about fitting in anywhere. In fact, it seems like that story would fit quite well in a comic strip about tiny people. Of course, Dotty could just have been dreaming...

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Smokey Stover here seems to be about as aware of what a bridge lamp is as I was when I first saw this particular strip. I'm not very knowledgeable about the names of home furnishings (but don't worry, Google has educated me). I imagine this is the type of thing that happens when you overhear a conversation between your significant other and someone else, telling them how much they wish they had a thing, but you don't know what the thing is. Then again, it could happen when they tell you directly what they want and assume you know what that is. This is always dangerous. If you really want someone to get you something, provide photo references and, where available, a link to a reputable online merchant that sells them. Otherwise, especially with people who are as bad at gift giving as me, you will always be taking a chance.

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I always enjoy comic strips that are humorous on several levels, not just one. Brother Juniper being as excited as he is about Santa arriving is funny, and the fact that he utilizes a Flintstones style answering service is also funny, but I like the caption the most. The addition of the "would you believe" is what gets me. He didn't have to include it. The image would have worked just as well if he hadn't. The fact that it's there just makes it that much better, though.

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Pogo is set in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia, and as someone who grew up in Georgia this is a familiar sight. It only snows maybe once every five years, and usually not around Christmas time. If it ever does snow, you have to look quick, because it will probably all melt by the time it hits the ground. Sometimes it stays around for a while longer, but only for about a day.

As with many things Walt Kelly writes, the overall message of this "song" seems a bit cynical, but even though certain things are fleeting, we should be able to appreciate them while they're there. Even though the snow melts quickly, it's always enjoyable to watch it fall from the sky (as long as you get to a window fast enough).

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Freckles and His Friends, created by Merrill Blosser, began in 1915 as a single panel gag strip simply titled "Freckles," though it was renamed only a few short months into its run. It ultimately ended in 1971. Freckles started out as a young boy of 6 or 7, and eventually grew up to become a teenager. By the time of this particular strip, Blosser's assistant Henry Formhals had taken over art duties.

I assume that it's not the tree speaking in the second and last panel here, but something that's living in the tree. When I was a kid, my family would always get a real tree, and it was very common for us to get stowaway grasshoppers. Sometimes we would notice them as we were putting up the tree. Other times we wouldn't notice until it was already halfway decorated. We would generally get our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving, which is why it seems odd that this was published on the 23rd of December. That seems way too late to get a tree. I guess that's why they're surprised that someone else didn't get it.

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I like this one because it works on several levels. First of all, it's of course humorous to think that Santa and Mrs. Claus have a son, and a lazy one at that. Second of all, it's great that Berry takes the much maligned cliche of the fat, lazy, bearded hippy and turns it into a major qualification for the important job of actually being Santa. I wonder what "Take Your Child To Work Day" looks like there.

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Contrary to the credit on the comic strip, this version of Yogi was not actually created by Hanna or Barbera. This kind of thing often happens with derivative features such as this. In the case of Yogi, Gene Hazelton was the original creator on the strip, and many other ghost artists contributed to it over the years.

The implication in this strip is that Yogi and Santa Claus have some kind of relationship, and a close enough one that Santa would think to call Yogi to bail him out of jail. I'm interested to find out how this relationship began, and whether or not it's persisted in the Hanna-Barberaverse or not. Of course, more interesting than the fact that Yogi personally knows Santa is that the desk sergeant apparently doesn't even recognize Santa at all. This suggests that Christmas isn't a very widely celebrated holiday in the H-BU, and also that the reason why you may not get any presents in this world isn't because you've been bad, but because Santa's been detained.

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Today is the generally accepted date of Beethoven's birthday, given that we have record of him being baptized on the 17 of December. Of course December is when we celebrate the birthday of Jesus, but I think it's always good to spare a thought for all the other people that were born this month. It must be difficult having your birthday overshadowed by one of the most famous people ever, and one of the most widely celebrated holidays ever.

Also, feel free to celebrate along with Schroeder by listening to the Beethoven sonata he mentioned.

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Berry's World was a single panel gag strip that ran for a fairly long time, from 1962 to 2003. It was a single panel on weekdays, at least. On Sundays, as you can see here, it had multiple panels. Jim Berry, the cartoonist, tried to keep it as topical as he could. While he wasn't an editorial cartoonist, he seemed to have the same sensibilities as one. He was the president of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists for a time, so they at least considered him one of their own. The strip was never one of the main stars of the comic page, but it always boasted a large newspaper client list, and is fondly remembered by many. Berry could probably have kept the strip going for as long as he wanted, but he decided to end it in 2003 and retire.

The conceit here seems absurd, but at the same time seems like it couldn't be too far from reality. I mean, there has to be some kind of quality control for mall Santas, right? I imagine it's a bit more clandestine than this, though. They probably have some "secret shopper" types that bring their kids in and report the whole experience back to management, so the Santas are always on their toes. Either that, or there's some fine print on one of the signs that says "This may be monitored or recorded for training purposes."