Yeah, it’s clickbait. Kinda.

First: Merry Christmas! We’ve been having trouble getting into the Christmas Spirit so I’ve forced the fam to 1) turn on Christmas lights; 2) go tree “shopping”; and 3) listen to Christmas Music. Like Sabaton.

It might be because we live in the Pacific Northwest and this is the time of year where it’s light from 8am to 4pm, unless it is overcast, in which case make that 9am to 3pm. It might be because Thanksgiving was a hard, but good, slog. It might be because I can’t seem to reproduce how my mother-in-law makes super, duper, yummy eggs using some kind of slow-cook process and MIL voodoo.

I lack patience and voodoo, apparently. Codex can make them though, and that bothers me to no end. I am the master of the cast iron pan in our household. Except for eggs.

Regardless, we have a tree in the garage awaiting it’s semi-permanent home in the library before meeting it’s ultimate reward and we have holiday comics awaiting publication. In spades.

I made the executive decision to cut the current story arc a little short this Christmas season. There were many reasons, but the biggest was this: we only get one chance to make a first impression. I wanted more time. More design time. More time to argue, prototype, discuss, beg, plead, and figure out how to present a Nightmare Veg. It’s two comics, for our readers, away. It will set the tone for the rest of our story.

It can wait until the first week of the New Year. It’s been waiting in my head for almost 5 years. That’s… strange to me. Glyph doodled them three years ago. That’s also strange to me.

You’ll have seen the first comic of our Christmas season by now and it’s… kinda edgy. The next is in the same vein. I think I channeled Pandemic Alcohol Drinking Syndrome (PADS) and put our own unique spin on it. But the next ones… Culinary Compost might be the genesis of a spinoff comic called Vidiocy. It might be the second-best idea I’ve ever come up with after The Germ.

After Christmas, we give homage to Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes in a way that only Vegfolk Fables can do.

Finally, we enter the New Year. I worked for that comic. My brain still hurts because the storming was… not easy. I’m thrilled with the result. Codex is too: the constant kvetching over it is at an end. She assures me that “drawing fireworks is easy”.

I’m mentioning that now because I predict December 29 is gonna bring some… complaints.

And amidst all of this, we’ve been planning Glyph’s wedding. Sabaton will be played as she walks down the aisle. Probably Winged Hussars, but the final decision is hers. Vegetables are completely optional for all wedding-related meals. And I get to yell “shakababa” after the I-do’s have been proclaimed.

All we need is a groom willing to abide by these decisions. A super-straight one.

In the meantime: enjoy the <Clean Speech> out of the Christmas season this year. We all need it. And if the only thing you can do is change the bulb in your porch light to green or red, please do so.

It’s secret code; and I love secret stuff.

–> Q