Click the image to see a larger version.

I've posted some Christmas Bill Holman art before, but this is the strip he's the most known for, Smokey Stover. It was a popular comic that ran for roughly 40 years, and featured a firefighter, the titular Smokey, as its main character. Hollman was known to put various side gags in the background of each panel which were usually plays on words, as can be seen in several panels here. At Christmas time there would always be a sign somewhere saying "notary sojac." According to Holman, this was a reference to the Gaelic phrase "Nodlaig Sodhach," which means "Merry Christmas." Others in this particular strip include the valet Forge, a foreign policy, and hoss scents. This may be what made the strip so popular; even if you didn't laugh at the final punchline, there was at least something in one of the panels that might make you grin.