Playing Old Maid

 

We have a version of Old Maid where it's a dedicated deck of people with jobs and one old maid who has a lot of cats. You can also play with a standard deck of playing cards and just remove three of the queens so the remaining one is the old maid. But anyways, my kid likes playing our version of the game from Five Below with slightly oversized cards that make it easier for kids to hold apparently. We also have War and Go Fish, and all three are great for four-year-olds to play.

Explanation: Old Maid is a game where you want to lay down matches which you find by drawing a card at random from another player. 

Text:
Title: Playing Old Maid
M: You took my lawyer!
L: You didn't have her on retainer?
M: Robin must have paid higher.

Lip Hurt

 

Sometimes my toddler answers a question before thinking of what he should say. I think some adults have this issue, too. 

Explanation: Like any two-year-old, my kid hopped out of his chair at the table and just went face-first onto the hardwood floor. His lip was rather swollen for a few days. The Kids Academy workers at the gym were concerned. I felt utterly horrible even though he has gotten out of his chair countless times with no issues so it clearly was an unexpected moment of clumsiness. Such is life as a parent.

Text:
L: How is your lip feeling?
O: GOOD! I think it still hurts a little.
L: My dude, you're sending mixed messages.

Jesus vs Moses

 

Merry Christmas! 
I'm sure the two get confused all the time? But when you think about it: (1) both were put in a peculiar vessel as a baby (manger, woven boat), (2) had the ruler of their land try to kill them (Pharaoh, Herod), (3) performed miracles, ... ok, I can see how my toddler got a little confused. And there's also:
"The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me [Moses] from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen" (Deut. 18:15, ESV) and
"For if you believed Moses, you would believe me [Jesus]; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" (John 5:46-47, ESV). and 

"And there appeared to them [Peter/James/John] Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus." (Mark 9:4, ESV).

Text:
O: Baby Moses!
L: Nope, that's baby Jesus.
O: Oh, ok. Big Moses!
L: Nope, that's Joseph. There's no Moses in the nativity set.

To You And Your King

 

I don't know if I can relearn the lyrics after miss-hearing them for several decades. (The actual lyrics are "to you and your kin" not "king.") This is like my other comic about "Up on the housetop reindeer paws."

Tasting History with Max Miller is an excellent YouTube show (and super calm) where he makes old recipes, and he has one for figgy pudding which is apparently Christmas pudding and yep I don't think I'll ever make that. 

Text:
L: I thought that "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" was sung at the manger because "Good tidings we bring to you and your King."
M: ... we bring you gold, figgy pudding, and myrrh.

Going to Mark It

 

So we get a tea advent calendar from Plum Deluxe and it is an excellent way to start each day in December leading up to Christmas. If you like tea, I highly recommend marking your calendar for next November to look into when they drop the new set - it's highly anticipated and usually sells out. It comes with a little list where you mark if each tea "jingled my bells" or is "not my cup of tea," and you mark each day so after New Years you can place an order for the ones you like. 

Explanation: "Mark it" sounds like "Market" and there's a rhyme about "going to market to buy a fat pig - home again, home again, jiggity jig."

Text:
M: I don't really like today's tea from the advent calendar.
L: Are you going to mark it?
M: To buy a fat pig.

Grinch Needs Love

 

My kiddo substitutes words he doesn't know (parables, Grinch) with words he does know (panda bears, crunch) to varying degrees of successful communication. He knows of the Grinch from an exercise show (Miss Linky) - I'm not sure when he'll actually watch the Grinch because I got nightmares from that for a while when I was a kid - that green hairy dude is frightening. But Ori likes to disagree so he nails the mannerisms of the Grinch here.  

Text:
O: I'm the Crunch!
L: The Grinch needs love ♡
O: I don't like love!

A Lot For Christmas

 

Hey, I have a sketch for this one! Is that a church bulletin? I will neither confirm nor deny.

Text:
M: I don't want a lot for Christmas -
W: Then you don't want me because I've been told that I'm a lot.

No Bones About It

 

It's amazing what random facts kids will internalize. 

Text:
O: bloh bloh bloh I'm octopus!
L: Oh, you have lots of arms.
O: bloh bloh bloh I have no bones.
L: ... Yep, that too.

DOTA2 Zeus in Stereo

 

I feel the mythological Zeus would just throw a lightning bolt at you if he received any criticism, so this is real growth for him here. I believe he says this phrase in game when you direct him to a place on the map. 

Text:
Title: DOTA2: A Day in the Life - Zeus
T: Zeus, hold the mic further away - you're overpowering the chorus.
Z: Sound advice!

DOTA2 Zeus the Technician

 

Another catchphrase from DOTA2, this time from Zeus. Enchantress, as a faun/dryad, clearly would question why someone would join an electricity company.
Back when I was in college, our pastor told us about how he wanted to officiate his friend's wedding but didn't know if he could so he called up his dad (also a pastor) and asked "Do I have THE POWER?" much to his dad's confusion. He explained THE POWER meaning the part at the end of the wedding ceremony when the pastor declares "by the power vested in me I pronounce you man and wife." And now his overly energetic inflection of THE POWER goes through my head sometimes when power is mention.

Text:
Title: DOTA2: A Day in the Life - Zeus
E: You accepted the job at the electricity company?
Z: A position of power!

Adorable Kid Boy

 

I mean, you can be all of those things and also adorable. And he definitely is.

Text:
L: Are you being adorable?
O: No, I'm Ori and a kid and a boy. 

DOTA2 Kunkka on Laundry

 

Happy Birthday to my SEEEEEEEESTER!
So many comics come from sitting next to my husband while he plays his games. I have no desire to play a battle royal with all the people trying to get me, but I like hearing (some of) the character's catchphrases and coming up with comics slightly out of character to use said phrases. 

Explanation: Tide is a brand of laundry detergent. Kunkka is an admiral in the navy and has many phrases about the sea levels and conditions.

Text:
Title: DOTA2: A Day in the Life - Kunkka
SS: I put too much detergent in, and how the laundry room is filling with bubbles!
K: Rising Tide. 

DOTA2 Necrophos in Winter

 

In the game DOTA2, this character has many rather visceral phrases but when he says "raging contagion" I always think of toddlers toddling along with all their germs. 

Text:
Title: DOTA2: A Day in the Life - Necrophos
N: Raging contagion!
A: *sneeze*
O: *sniffle*