The holidays are fun. For most people it’s a break from work ... unless you’re a daily cartoonist. Newspapers still want their comic every day and so holiday vacation isn’t so vacationy. Though I do get some time off from my day job (yes, I have another profession; no, it’s not illegal) so the deadlines aren’t quite as pressing and I have time to write about pressing matters ... like food stuffs you hang on your Christmas tree.

 

Look at the main blog page and you’ll see me and the family in front of the Blazek Christmas Tree. Unfortunately, my daughters are blocking out my prize ornament: a dinner roll that’s been hanging, untreated, on the tree since my wife first threw it at me during our first Christmas 26 years ago. I just drilled a hole in it and hung it on the tree. It’s been there ever since. Looks just about the same as the day I first got it. Makes you wonder what they’re made of in the first place.

 

I did scramble in time this year to get out a Loose Parts Christmas card. I was particularly happy with the way it turned out. Perceptive Loose Parts fans will note that it is this year’s Christmas Day toon. When you enlarge and colorize, it really adds to the effect.

 

It was a good week, creative-wise. One of the things that can derail the whole cartooning express is a bad day of writing. There are only so many hours and if I have a bad session, it can set me back considerably. I had a bad session last week. Lots of half formed ideas. How half-formed? How about Mr. Hardee, the alternative to the Mr. Softee ice cream truck. This one would sell various rocks in cones. Yeah, I told you it was a bad week.  Or how about two entries in my joke book that I only have down as ‘Tub of Hair’ and ‘Wii Marriage’? But just as you can have a bad day, you can have a great one. I did. Saturday saw me write about ten really good jokes in only about 45 minutes. That’s livin’.

 

That’s it for now. Don’t want to set the bar too high. Next time I’ll tell you about a new cartoon I’ve created that, for now, is only running in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Stay tuned. Stay Loose.

 

                                                                           Dave