Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for December 24, 2024

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    BasilBruce  1 day ago

    Rat’s got the right idea.

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    Uncle Kenny  1 day ago

    Over on Adam at Home, Adam makes part of his income by writing Christmas letters.

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    The Premium Member 1 day ago

    The Johnsons deserve no less.

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    win.45mag  1 day ago

    That fireplace looks so OUT of place. Needs a mantle and furniture.

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    orinoco womble  1 day ago

    My sister in law used to do this. It was very important that everyone know how wonderful their life was. I never read them either. She never contacted me until the Christmas bragsheet; if she were really interested in keeping in touch, she could have done so.

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    Bilan  1 day ago

    Rat could use a little education himself. Like the fact that you don’t put the kindling in after the fire is going.

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    iggyman  1 day ago

    Rat sure whacks the Johnson’s card! Slippery guy he is!

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    franki_g  1 day ago

    People used to complain that they’d hear from an old neighbor, school friend only via exchanging Christmas cards but they wouldn’t TELL them anything about their lives

    so then the Christmas letters became a thing.

    And now that people are used to them, they complain….

    Merry Krampus/Grinchmas and may the world conform to YOUR ideal.

    Someday, after I die, please.

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    Zykoic  1 day ago

    Got one yesterday. With a map of the routes taken during their vacation.

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    Doug K  about 24 hours ago

    It’s nice when you can get words from others and put them to good use

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    Out of the Past  about 22 hours ago

    I like those letters. I’m always thinking that I’m glad I didn’t waste my time doing that crap.

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    llennok1  about 22 hours ago

    I agree with that

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    SquidGamerGal  about 21 hours ago

    In other words, some people can’t be bothered to hear the life stories of old friends they’re too lazy to even try to remember.

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    Huckleberry Hiroshima  about 21 hours ago

    I love getting those cards with the family news. Not enough people do that anymore.

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    Ellis97  about 21 hours ago

    Nobody likes show offy neighbors.

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    ekw555  about 20 hours ago

    not sure if he knows what kindling means.

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    [Unnamed Reader - bddb15]  about 20 hours ago

    I’m guessing that selfies have a similar fate

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    Grover St. Clair  about 20 hours ago

    “Xerox Christmas letter, nothing could be betterthan to hear from folks you hardly knowbragging on all they have achieved.” ~~ Ray Stevens

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    NaryGancy  about 20 hours ago

    My personal favorite was the one where the writer’s son went through a divorce and she described it as a “wonderful opportunity for him to pursue alternate directions in his life.”

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    aerotica69  about 19 hours ago

    I used to receive 3-4 page christmas letters – with photos – from a hamster that belonged to my former college roommate, detailing all the activities of its human servants over the past year. Then one year the hamster apparently died and had not yet been replaced, because the christmas letter was written by several beanie babies from her collection. It was one of those things that makes you grateful to still have all your marbles.

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    SusieB  about 19 hours ago

    Yeah, the yearly Braggadocio Bulletin. Ugh!

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    CountOlaf2.0 Premium Member about 19 hours ago

    The last page has a Go Fund Me link to help pay for it.

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    Kaputnik  about 19 hours ago

    Send them a postcard. Write “Got your letter. TLDR.”

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    christelisbetty  about 19 hours ago

    Too many designed to make you feel miserable because you haven’t had anything worth sharing.

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    Ignatz Premium Member about 19 hours ago

    I don’t mind those at all. If I’m not interested in their lives, why would I pretend to be their friend at all?

    And (downer coming) with age, I’ve realized that we don’t have each other forever, and those letters are a real memento.

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    hariseldon59  about 19 hours ago

    Santa Rat.

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    gorbag  about 19 hours ago

    I thought burning sheets of paper was a fire hazard (the partially burned paper floats up the fireplace and may ignite the creosote). Instead it has to be tightly bundled and tied…

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    rshive  about 19 hours ago

    It’s long past the kindling stage, Rat.

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    ladykat  about 18 hours ago

    That’s all some of those letters are good for.

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    Otis Rufus Driftwood  about 18 hours ago

    Most Christmas cards my family have ever got just have family pictures and a holiday greeting. Those letters with Christmas cards I’m not familiar with. Rat of course is all too familiar with them. Merry Christmas.

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    No6  about 18 hours ago

    I love it when people send cards displaying pics of their obnoxious families grinning rather than traditional illustrations. They take that much longer to burn and save on energy bills.

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    unfair.de  about 18 hours ago

    A warm christmas greeting from the Johnsons indeed. Warmer that intended.

    But that fire is already burning. Why waste the kindling?

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    alohaotis  about 17 hours ago

    As where all those stupid letters belong

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    dpatrickryan Premium Member about 17 hours ago

    Considering the fire is already burning merrily, I don’t think Rat understands what “kindling” is. (Not that I’m suggesting he shouldn’t burn the brag letter, just that it’s not really kindling.)

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    LaughterIsJoyMuliplied  about 17 hours ago

    MERRY CHRISTMAS TO STEPH AND TO ALL.

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    Drbarb71 Premium Member about 17 hours ago

    LMAO!

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    wildlandwaters  about 17 hours ago

    love it!…(HATE those letters!. thankfully we only get one now… used to be a handful…)

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    Drbarb71 Premium Member about 17 hours ago

    One year, my brother sent a letter with choices to fill in the blanks. One was “Our son Sean (played, excelled at, completely failed) football this season, and graduated with (sighs of relief from his teachers, a job at McDonald’s, debt).” It was hilarious.

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    DaBump Premium Member about 16 hours ago

    Oh, that’s terrible. MUAH HA HA HA HAaaaaaa… (ahem) Terrible, just terrible.

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    Goat from PBS  about 16 hours ago

    Some people just really don’t care.

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    Komix Lover  about 15 hours ago

    I like hearing news, especially from those that live far away. However, when they become brag sessions, I have to wonder about the motivation.

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    Richard S Russell Premium Member about 12 hours ago

    I’m given to understand that suicides tend to go up around the holidays every year. Some people chalk this up to loneliness, but my own suspicion is that it’s despair that they’re doing so badly compared to all the success stories they read in everybody else’s holiday letters.

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    Concretionist  about 3 hours ago

    When I heated with wood, we subscribed to a newspaper and that was a LOT of fire-starter. More than I needed… though we did go through a fair amount in the fall and spring when I’d light the fire in the evening and let it go out. Summer, I didn’t light it at all, and winter I didn’t let it go out except to clean out ashes.

    But ALL the junk mail got sorted into the shop burner which was between the mailbox and the house. That one I lit off every so often even in the summer, just to burn the BS.

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