Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for December 11, 2011

No sign of contrition from those two.

ah, another annual Christmas gag in the Luanniverse; fiddling with the christmas lights.

Huh, today’s strip actually makes me a bit sad and yet laugh at the same time. My late father really was that bumbling and incompetent at anything resembling home repairs. He was a great dad and I loved him dearly with all my heart but the whole family all took great care to hide the tools from him :)

Let the fun begin!

Just a suggestion for future reference use the new LED lights. They never burn out and use very low wattage.

Not ALL males, just these two.

And Mom & Luann know it, having seen it time and time again.

Just watch their eyes.

Now let us find out what is going on in LA with Quill and Tiffany…….

Where would we be without annual holiday traditions to bring down our Christmas spirit?

christmas lights are big waste of time, energy, effort.

Thing is, there isn’t a female character except, possibly, Delta who isn’t similarly flawed. Seems like you’d have to really want to see bias to read this crew as unbalanced.

Is that an air-freshener Luann is wearing?

Bah humbug. That’s why I leave mine up all year long.

Why has Luann got a car deodorant hanging around her neck?

My dad is like that: Says with great cheer that every day is great & he enjoys everything he does, then gets into a project like that and gets aggravated, frustrated to where I get embarrassed.

That’s how this tradition usually plays out.

You think it’s making fun of guys, but it’s not. It’s actually parodying the truth about hanging Christmas lights. How many of you have NEVER had a similar experience? If you haven’t – you’re lucky.

Wow. Luann is stacked

Lucky me. We already got the outdoor lights mayhem out of the way and the Christmas tree lights also.

“done to death”…? Life is rather done till death, with a lot of incompetence in between softer gentler moments. But we get up and do it again. That’s a strange sort of musical cadence we dance to as we go through life. Our artist is simply watching closer than “said” admits to. Go on Greg!

It is sad…but one year my father cut the christmas lights into teeny tiny strips because he could get them to work!!!! Mind you the man could put wiring throughout the ENTIRE basement and fix a hot tub!!! but when it came to the christmas decor OUTSIDE!!! he was an idiot!!! So it became the tradition for my sister and I to do, ladder and all!!! I would still do it at my mother’s (if I lived it the US) And her husband just leaves the lights up year round!!!!

Guys.

Buy lighted candles and put in each window.

Get a large wreath and put on the front door.

If you like, get a small spotlight that illuminates the wreath,

You’re DONE.

Now GO to the football game.

I thought it was established that TJ was independently wealthy, or am I mis-remembering?

I love this strip, it’s the only one I read regularly. I’ve never commented before and normally don’t even read the comments but happened to notice today the comment at the top from the guy with a … as a username and had to respond. If you don’t like the strip don’t read it. Why do you have to be so negative? I find it rude to both the writer and the fans. It’s just a comic strip for crying out loud not an attack on men.

I once “blew out” several lines of Christmas lights, short circuited them, or who knows what, so I can relate to the bumbling men. I’ve also destroyed one power mower and one snow blower. Once my wife slid off an icy expressway, down into a shallow gully, and before the tow truck came, I had to go back down to the car to retrieve her Starbucks Latte. Humor is an equal opportunity employer.

Ah, who can forget the great knock-down-drag-out that Sunday at cdotc when Nancy wanted Frank to hang that planter for her but was too impatient for him to suit up and collect all his tool armor, so she stood on the arm of a chair and twisted the hook into the ceiling all on her own? Good times, man.

Greg has to depart from the strip to do a gag every Sunday, so I read it as a day off for the characters since he’s not true to them on this day. We’ve seen that Frank is not the handiest man around, but it’s pretty scary to think that Brad, a guy who’s supposed to be using an axe, hauling hoses and working on ladders to put out fires, is so handless he can’t manage to deal with a string of fairy lights!

Yep bring in Tim The Toolman and Bob The Builder to hang the lights. Bring in Tom the Tractor to help with the landscaping. And when it’s all done you’ll need Thomas The Train to carry all of the visitors coming to see the fabulous show!

I have repaired our old house with some success, but I have also been very frustrated, especially with old plumbing, so I sympathize with the guys. Xmas lights don’t give me a problem, but we have a 3 foot plastic tree, so we just leave them on.Mom should have her eyes rolled upward. Its not like this has not happened before.Am I the only one that thinks the intelligent gothic Crystal looks more like LuAnn’s smart Mom than blonde small lipped Luann who has two dark haired parents?

You heard I have tools, didn’t you? Nice try – not a chance! ;)

Will there be eggnog?

@Flashman

If there’s gonna be eggnog I suddenly find that my schedule is free.

Have a safe, happy, healthy, peaceful holiday season whatever your belief. Joy.

That’s not guy incompetence, that’s just the way old Christmas lights are. I had to move stuff from the basement to the attic last spring, and there’s still a box of lights MIA.

And exactly HOW is Luanne is a blonde…

i gave up several years ago. i leave em up until they fall off the house or are all burned out. then put up new ones whenever xmas rolls around again, if needed.

@ nufalread and Mighty Mouse – yes, Luann is wearing a car deodorizer. A week ago we learned that Luann can swivel her head almost 180º so nothing should surprise us anymore.

The price of being a famous comics strip Star is you step in some of it sometimes…that’s your role. Play out the comic roles. The ‘cast’ plays out the various possible roles that make people laugh…You can turn people into children, or animals, or machines…thru their behavior while remaining in their bodies…this time they’re incompetent, ie, children.

Tiff gets taken down to baby sometimes…maybe once sort of machine-like? Momma gets brought down to incompetent child sometimes…

I don’t think there is much subtext here. Sure, there are the “gender-role stereotypes” like how Luann and Nancy are doing the Christmas cards (women’s work), but the point of this strip is the visual gag – the before-and-after of panels 1 & 3.On another note, I think the blame for old dishes being in a box marked “South Lites” lies squarely with Nancy, and she probably gathered up all the extension cords one day and “put them away.”

Amen to that! Hey, …, if you haven’t already left for the store, don’t forget the rum!

When my dad put up christmas lights outside, we just put them around the front door, on the railing, and on the bushes out front.

I think Greg solved the problem by cutting off her left one panel 3!

Oak Ridge Boy 61: It is Thomas the Tank Engine, not a train. Tank engines are yard switchers and not used to pull trains. The name comes from the lack of a tender, both water and coal are carried alongside the boiler. Since they never leave the yard, these can be replenished easily and so they don’t have to carry enough for distances.

Why is Brad at home and not the station what if there’s a fire

My guy was always better than I at all those things; Now I do minimal decorating for Christmas.

I also see Luann and Mom are addressing cards. Until a few years ago I wrote and addressed them but stamps are a rip-off and even keeping current addresses can be a pain. I may do a card by email and or Facebook, but those who care are already keeping in touch now (things keep changing).

And the SAT word of the day is…

Hey, I think that cops should only be paid when they’re either arresting someone or getting shot at, and then only if they fill out the paperwork in triplicate. I’m sick of my tax dollars going to bankroll someone to eat donuts on their break!

Well, let it be said that I also don’t think they should be paid when they’re writing me a speeding ticket. You gotta draw the line somewhere, ya know? ;)

Well, at least we can see the kids inherited Nancy’s nose… ;P

Also, I just noticed that Luann is left handed. Who knew? On a side note, I’ve been reading this strip from the beginning and love reading the forum, too! I don’t often have a lot to say, but I will say that the comments about the perkiness of a cartoon character’s boobs in base, boorish, and tiresome. It also shows me that you have the mentality and maturity of a boy who had just hit puberty….

In short, it’s annoying to see everday

Didn’t know Luann was left handed.

I’m all for criticism as long as it is constructive… and I do know the writer’s name I’ve been reading this strip for years. I was definitely not trying to imply you can only say nice, pandering, supportive things at all, and that isn’t how I worded it either. I only meant that the comment itself and the way it was framed seemed to me to be rude and hurtful rather than constructive. After reading various feedback, I understand that perhaps my comment was the rude one after all. I don’t want to go around as a miss bossy pants telling y’all what to say, but it just seemed insensitive. Perhaps i am just overly sensitive to stuff like that and most people wouldn’t be bothered by it.

‘FINE, YOU’RE SO SMART…..YOU RIG UP THE LIGHTS!!!!"

Lol

They come down a lot easier. Of course there s no organization or labeling, just a thought we’ll remember where they are next year.