THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

So finally the holidays are over.

I hope you all survived the gifting, the sweets, the overeating, possibly over-drinking, the late nights and later mornings and all the rest of it.

To those of you who still have hangovers, shame on you.

To those of you with Christmas decor still inhabiting every spare space in your homes, it is permissable to now pack it all away.

Of course there is Twelfth Night, which gives you a few more days.

Whatever your traditions I hope you had a good time with them.

Now you can resume your regular lives.

Or . . .

So we come to a close of the first Friday Funnies of the year.

Now I know it's been a difficult time, this holiday season, but toughen up and try to have a remarkable weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . . 

( . . . oh, yeah . . . )

THINKING BACK . . .

 

KITTY NEW YEAR

 

--- Cheerfully submitted by Comical Carol

HAPPY (?) NEW YEAR

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE EVE

 Yes, tomorrow night is the big event: New Year's Eve!

There will be parties and champagne and fireworks (bring your pets inside) and general hooting and cheering throughout the bounds of the earth.

But yet . . .

                yet . . .

                            yet.

Some of us will be missing the whole event.

Some of us have seen too many New Year's Eve celebrations and next-day hangovers and same-old-same-old to get excited about it anymore.

I suspect the couple in this house will have the lights out around 8 p.m.

So to the rest of you, celebrate to your heart's content and may we wish you a Happy New Year.

We have other plans.

CHRISTMAS IS OVER

Judy packed away all of our Christmas decorations yesterday, with my approval.

Normally she waits until New Year's Day but she put them out earlier than usual this year and the end of the year just seemed to call for a fresh start sooner.

I'm often reminded of Queen Elizabeth's remark in her speech to Parliament in 1992, referring to the year past as "an annus horribilis".

One of her children had divorced that year, two others had separated from their wives, and a fire gutted Windsor Castle.

A horrible year 2025 was too but I won't dwell on it.

So now we move on.

Fortunately, our largest tree is only about 18 inches tall so it fits neatly into our picnic basket.

Maybe 2026 will be the year that we once again have a picnic.

THE BEARD

I've had some form or another of a beard for most of the past 55 years.

It's usually a goatee.

But sometimes a full beard.

This year I stopped shaving a couple of months ago and eventually grew a Santa-type bush on my face.

Yesterday it looked like this:

Today, our daughter came over for her somewhat delayed annual Christmas visit and exchange of goodies.

I told her I was going to shave it off after she left.

"No, no," both she and my wife exclaimed.

"Oh, not all of it," I explained, "just back to my traditional goatee."

My wife was relieved as she's seen me barefaced a couple of times over the years and prefers my mug partially covered.

The daughter said she'd always liked my beards, whatever they were.

Anyway, once she departed, I got busy with my beard trimmer.

Here is the result.

Wife gave her approval, saying she thought I looked younger with only a goatee.

I'm not sure how one can ever look younger when he's pushing 86 but I'll take it.

The only thing I have a problem with is that back in time, my beard used to be reddish brown.

I wonder where all that white hair came from.