Millie and Tigger Flanked by The Grinch and Rudolph

Millie the dog and Tigger the cat live with our pet deprived children's aunt and uncle.

This napkin was a misguided attempt at a holiday gift for said aunt and uncle.  I figured as long as I was nagging the kids to make holiday cards, I ought to set a good example.  

As you can see, bizarre creepiness ensued.  Of course last year I drew a fruitcake bearing sleigh being pulled by cockroaches for a Christmas present for my mother, so it is perhaps not a surprise that the result this year was also a bit off. (Link to roach/reindeer sleigh here)

Ansel looked at this today as I was finishing it and told me sympathetically that he thought that the Grinch's facial expression was a mistake.  I told him he was absolutely correct... (although there are several other things that also contribute to the image's weirdness...perhaps too many for me to further discuss here. )

Ansel had just finished having a tantrum because he felt he had messed up the drawings on his cards. And thus, I had a wonderful opportunity to model how to behave graciously in the face of drawing failure.

Ansel's much nicer version of Rudolph.

Mech Santa With Robo Rudolph

One last attempt at rendering the man in red and white and his red nosed steed in some Terminatoresque, cool for small small boys, guise.  (Surprisingly, my iPhone is not questioning my spelling of "Terminatoresque")

And of course, you can see the other attempts at holiday themed napkins from this year and last here

Minions Christmas: Santa and Rudolph

We wish you a Minions Christmas!

Somehow I have managed to resist buying the recently released DVD for "Despicable Me 2"
Given my sons' enthusiasm for the minions, I am afraid I will not be able to hold out indefinitely.

Child Alien and Predator in Santa's Lap

And what do you want for Christmas?

Perhaps no holiday can be complete without bringing out the Predator and Alien kids.  (See other appearances here and here)

I used to take the kids to Macy's at the beginning of Christmas vacation so they could sit next to a frustrated actor guy with a beard and tell him that he was not really Santa.  The activity itself is free and if you go early on a weekday, the line is fairly short...

...and riding up the escalator in the store always gave me a few moments to consider how remarkably grateful I am that  the rise of online shopping has made it largely unnecessary for me to drag two rowdy and impolite boys through a department store in order to actually purchase anything.  I cannot imagine how much more fun life would be if I had to take them along to buy one of them a pair of pants... or, more inconceivably, to buy a pair of pants for myself. 

We have not been to Macy's in a a few years.  The kids are no longer much interested in the man in a red suit, and those Santa guys already suffer too much abuse without our help.

(They look cute and cooperative in this photo, but they just finished telling Mr. Claus that he is an imposter. )

Rudolph, the Grinch, Max and the Abominable Snowman

Ghosts of Christmas Past:

The "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" television special from 1964 (broadcast every year since of course) and "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" (1966 version by Chuck Jones) were certainly staples of my childhood.

Not so much for my sons.   I think they would probably say that both shows are a bit boring.  Not enough weapons, too much plot.

Although I should add  that the most memorable parts of each for me were not the main characters.  My favorite part of The Grinch was always his comically put-upon dog-turned reindeer Max.  And I was somehow terrified by the "Abominable Snow Monster" (could it have been the roar?  it certainly wasn't the face).

I think my kids would probably agree that the supporting characters were the best part.

Santa Mech with Present Cannon

Today we have another weaponization of Christmas image.  I thought perhaps that the Cringle-Jaegger should shoot wrapped gifts out of the cannons.  I'm not sure that this concept will be clear at the first grade lunch at the Quaker school, or even that it would be suitably peaceful if clearly explained.

I was coming down with something last night.  Can you tell by my poor drawing of the mountain?

Candy Cane Ninja

Ansel was suddenly struck with an overwhelming need for candy canes yesterday...perhaps another child had one in his or her lunch?

I was unable to provide the immediate gratification that he felt he deserved.
But I drew candy canes on a napkin. 

Of course, he did not see the napkin as compensation for the lack of the real thing.  He told me this morning that I must have drawn them in order to remind myself to buy him some as soon as possible.

Penguins Pull Santa's Sleigh

Our younger son says he is "into penguins."  He is also into the idea of Santa... although he would be the first to tell you that there is no such person as Santa in real life.

Speaking of reality: my kids will be eager to point out how IMPLAUSIBLE (one of their favorite words) this napkin is....as opposed to all those other very realistic napkins...

And yes, I am aware that penguins are exclusively found in the southern hemisphere.  But reindeer do not reside at the north pole in real life either.

Hiccup And Toothless With Snow Dragon

How to Make Your Snow Dragon: Hiccup works while Toothless models....or maybe just lurks.

Should we ever get a significant snowfall this winter, I may regret this drawing. Previous snowman attempts in years past (most notably, Captain Rex from the Clone Wars) have always ended badly, and I doubt we would be able to pull off a convincing snow dragon.

Sven From "Frozen" with Rudolph The Red Nosed

The issue of relative reindeer realism was clearly a problem for me on this one.

Sven, the "Labrador-like" reindeer (if Labradors could understand human speech and follow the plots of movies...) was popular with the boys.  And Rudolph is always appealing. 

But I should have known better than to tangle with the Rudolph nose realism question again.  Last year, all images of Rudolph that did not feature a light bulb style nose were resolutely rejected. (like this one)

To avoid nose-related rejection, I did not let Ansel see Sven and Rudolph this morning.  It is almost noon as I type this...he is probably complaining about it right now...

Bartleby From "Bone" Reflects Santa

Only 16 days to go... and even monsters look forward to Christmas.

The kids love Bartleby, the endearing Rat Creature cub.

We're on book 6 out of 9 (plus the prequel), so we will definitely finish rereading the series before the holiday.

Skrill from "Dragons: Defenders of Berk"

The latest Dragon from the How To Train Your Dragon franchise, is able to store and then emit lightning... and to survive being frozen in a solid block of ice for decades. 

Our kids did not find this at all implausible.

Bart Simpson with the Stupid, Stupid Rat Creatures from "Bone"

Just what is in that quiche?: Bart Simpson hangs out with the stupid, stupid rat creatures from "Bone"

Our sons really enjoy the malevolent, yet ridiculously idiotic, dumb and dumber pair of rat creatures from the Bone series. The rats often miss opportunities to eat the books' main characters because they are too busy arguing about whether their victims should be consumed raw or baked in a nice quiche.

"Bone"s Red Dragon and Thorn with Hiccup and Toothless

We are working our way back through the entire excellent "Bone" series by Jeff Smith as Ansel is old enough to really appreciate them this time around:  There's slapstick cartoon characters, scary monsters, a cute girl, and of course, a dragon who smokes... What more could we possibly ask for?

I left the dangling cigarette out of this one for first grade lunch.

Thor with Olaf from "Frozen"

Thor is thinking fondly of those frost giants.

 Thor lost again over the weekend.  The kids were willing to go see "Frozen" despite the female characters, and the singing.  Olaf the slapstick snowman definitely sold the product.  (He says the word "butt" more than once!)

Perhaps if Olaf appeared in the Thor movie, I could convince them to see that also?  It's all Disney, after all....

Rudolph the Reindeer with Teddy the Bear

My nose is so bright I gotta wear shades: Teddy and Rudolph herald the slippery slope from Hanukkah to Christmas:

Our younger son had some regularly scheduled, but rather unpleasant, blood work done recently and earned a trip to some sort of retail establishment that his mother would normally prefer to avoid.

 Build-A-Bear is of course already pushing Christmas hard, so we could not avoid acquiring a reindeer with a light-up nose....

And sunglasses.... Because what Rudolph does not need Ray Bans?