Photo by Tessa Rampersad on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, will be spending the day with the keeper playing out in the snow and so the post for the day will be the Xmas card as shared with Phyllis. Happy Holly! Phyllis and Bill wish the very best for everyone, except, oh, you know who …
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Category:Holidays
The Pen in Hand Presents a Michael DiMilo Production…
Babs and Knuckles in their Holiday Special Deck the Halls Artwork by Michael DiMilo Video and Story by Michael DiMilo In memory of Dave Bolyard The holiday season is all about family tradition. Whether it’s about going to Midnight Mass, carving the Christmas ham, avoiding the mother-in-law’s homemade eggnog, or sampling Grandma’s oyster stew, traditions …
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Kickass and Wisconsin Weather Adjustment
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, tries to stay out of the way as the keeper and Phyllis–well, mostly Phyllis, do the final adjusting necessary to get their book “Treeson” into the hands of clamoring readers–at least the keeper claims that there is clamoring. What he hears may be friends …
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The Pen in Hand’s Guide to a Vintage TV Christmas
“Oscar the Elf” Photo by Geoff Carter
Kickass and Believing in Santa
Virginia O’Hanlon , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in responding to a mysterious letter from someone named Virginia that was apparently misdirected by the USPS due to the keeper’s column-writing notoriety. “Dear Editors: “If I were still alive I would be 133 years old, and I would still be …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: An Embarrassment of Scrooges
MGM, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter It’s only about a week until Christmas, and we’re into the full swing of the holiday season. Shopping, decorating, traveling, baking, wrapping, entertaining, and all the other painfully joyous activities are part of the annual hustle and bustle of the holidays, but another huge part of …
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Blue Christmas
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter (Originally posted December 2020) As we were trimming the tree last weekend, my wife asked me to bring in the laptop so we could listen to Christmas music. I complied—as any trained husband will—and set up the sound system in our dining room. And so we trimmed the …
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Kickass and Automatic Santa
Heather Morey of Creative Photo, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons by Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper is apparently experiencing his own Christmas miracle as his body evolves into the unmistakable shape of Santa Claus. His increasing girth cannot have anything to do with the keeper’s intake of rich food and …
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“Just Like the Ones I Used to Know”: The Pen in Hand’s Guide to Vintage Christmas Movies
Photo by Geoffrey Carter (Originally published, December 10, 2021) By Geoff Carter Well, the Christmas season is upon us in full force. The commercials are everywhere. We’ve seen that ad for the car—or Energizer Bunny, wrapped in a bow and sitting in the driveway on Christmas morning at least one hundred times. Getting ready for this holiday season, …
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Oh, Christmas Tree
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter (Originally posted in December, 2019) Each year, in the family holiday tradition, my wife and I venture out to buy our Christmas tree. We’re lucky enough to live across the street from a big tree lot so we don’t have very far to go—we can walk right over. …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to Spinning Classic Christmas Vinyl
Photo by The Retro Store on Unsplash By Geoff Carter (Originally posted in December 2019) While the Couch Potato will always be slavishly devoted to his TV home entertainment center, this week he will be putting down the universal remote in order to turn his focus solely on another entertainment form—music. Part of the reason for this departure …
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Kickass and The Christmas Poem
Kelvin Kay, en:user:kkmd, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, naps through the following: As a man of quiet and reason, The keeper sees this season Fraught with troubles and woes, Total dumbness wherever he goes. People buying things they don’t need, If it isn’t essential, it must be greed. …
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