Ten Cats by Graham Harrop for December 22, 2023

Perfection.

I love it.

Beautiful.

“We three Kings of Orient are”

“Two in a Taxi, one in a car!”

The true meaning.

That says it all

Today is:

FOREFATHERS’ DAY

Christmas will be different in my family this year since our brother, Paul, died suddenly and unexpectedly at the end of October. We will miss him.

But I got good news today that a certain other brother isn’t coming for Christmas either. I have mentioned him here before. The lazy guy who comes for the free meal and who never brings any food and who refuses to help clean up after the meal. And I think I know why he decided not to come. It has to do with a little letter that I wrote to him. I sort of invited him not to come without actually telling him not to come. The only real reason he was ever needed at all was because he brought our brother, Jim, who doesn’t have a car. But this year, Joe said that he would bring Jim. So, I wrote to John and told him he does not have to bring Jim. And I told him that because Paul died and Paul has been paying the rent on the place where we do our dinner (the dining area of the Methodist church) everyone would have to chip in $10 for the rent. I thought that alone might discourage him from coming because he’s a greedy, selfish person. But then I hit him with the “new rules”. I got brutally honest with him. I told him flat out the EVERYBODY who does not help cook the meal will be REQUIRED to help clean up and do dishes after the meal. NO exceptions except for Paul’s grandchild who is only one year old. I told him that it is not right that the same few people do all the work every year while others sit on their butts and don’t do anything. I said that cleaning up is called “being a part of the family unit”. Not helping is not acceptable. I thought that might be enough to stop him from coming, but I decided to hit him with one more thing which would almost surely make him not come. I told him that because of the great expense I go to making the fudge and divinity every year, I would not be bringing containers of either to the dinner. He usually eats about 6 pieces (maybe even more). Plus all the other goodies he eats.

So, my grandson who is staying with me right now because his work is here but they are house hunting in another town closer to his wife’s family went into work yesterday and found out he has been made redundant. No two-week notice, nothing. Just a letter saying that they are doing random job cuts, and he is random. Merry Christmas to a man who goes in and works split shifts every night, can do pretty much any job on the floor, and has simply been through a hellish year. He and his wife will be looking at a house on Sunday. I hope they get it, because I will be moving in with them. I’d be interacting more with my two younger great-grandchildren (his little boy is definitely autistic, we aren’t too sure about his little girl), and we can save money up for a planned move to New Brunswick in 2 – 3 years, where costs of living are MUCH cheaper.

The second panel is absolutely gorgeous!

Well, that shut him up!

The amount of coal Cheeeesney is about to receive won’t fit into his stocking. A miracle is needed.

Thank you Graham (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

I think it would be very Christian to have a holiday called Forgiving rather than just one for Thanksgiving.

Beautiful!

Good enough for you, Ches?

This is so precious!

Ohhhhh GH….SO beautiful!!

FREE ELDO!

Well said, Graham. Christmas is all about peace, love, kindness, and understanding. It’s not about revenge or having the best decorated house, or getting a ton of presents. (Although the latter is nice.) It’s about peace on Earth and Goodwill to men. (And kitties too.) On another note, saw three varied thrushes and a chickadee while out walking today.

Thank you, Graham. Deep Peace be to you.

Emailed this strip to my pastor. She said, “Awwwwww!”