Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! 🥳🎆

Digging Out

It's a rainy weekend, but at least it's not cold enough for it to be snow! ❄️

When we were younger, we'd get so excited when snow was in the forecast...especially when it was on a school day...but when you got old enough to help shovel the walkways and driveway, that excitement faded pretty quick!

Hoping we escape this winter without having to shovel a lot of snow, but I know my luck 🍀😅

Persistence

Book Seven is Complete!

It's amazing to think about how many drawings I've created since I began this journey in 2018. Cracking open a brand new sketchbook...Book Eight... ready to explore new adventures with Zack and his family! 😁✏️📖

Thank You

Pre-smartphone era!

When you get these GREAT Christmas gifts, but can't get into them until you've sat down and hand written a "Thank You" note to everyone, specifically mentioning the gift in the letter!

Now, people can just send a simple "Thank You" text and be done!😅🎁

Merry Christmas

 Merry Christmas, everyone! 🎄 🎁😁

The "One Present" Rule

The "one present on Christmas Eve" rule!

Our parents let us open one present early on Christmas Eve night.

One of my most memorable presents that I got to open on Christmas Eve was the G.I. Joe APC vehicle! I didn't know much about the toy line at the time, and marked the start of my G.I. Joe collection! It was huge! I remember loading up the vehicle with all the figures I got that Christmas!🎄🎁

Make a Game Out of It!

To "keep me on my toes", there are little games I like to play when drawing my cartoons.

You may have noticed...but one is challenging myself by alternating the direction the character faces in my cartoons.

When the character faces the reader, or when I have multiple characters facing opposite directions, I get a pass on the next cartoon.

If you ever see two cartoons in succession where the character faced the same direction...well, that's when I forgot about the game (or what direction the character was facing in the LAST cartoon).😅

It can be fun, and it definitely livens things up! 😁 

The Journey Home

The walk home from school was a great way to catch up with friends...and maybe embellish a little about how "great" our school day was! 😉😂

Let it Snow

Just trying to recapture that excitement for the first snow of the season...regardless of how intense the snowfall was! 😁❄️

Catalog

Department Store Winter Catalogs!

My parents would sit me in front of one, and tell me to circle a few items I'd like for Christmas. It was a nearly impossible mission though, because the catalogs were absolutely FILLED with toys! 🤯 

Breaking Point

Even people who are relatively calm and patient have their breaking point...

...it didn't happen often, but when I did get angry...LOOK OUT! 😳😡🤯😅

Temperature's Rising

After a week of freezing temperatures, it feels like a heat wave when the days are over 50 degrees! 😎🌡

Cereal

The breakfast table...
no TV...
no devices...
all we had was reading the back of the cereal box to keep us occupied! 😅🥣

Comraderie

It's that time of year! The first weekend of December was my hometown's annual Christmas Parade! I spent many years participating in the parade as part of a drum corps, and later in our high school band!

Working on this cartoon reminded me of the comraderie we had. There's just something about being part of a group, spending time together "behind the scenes" as we worked on music!

There was nothing like when the whole group was in the groove! It'd get you psyched for the march down the long parade route...despite the freezing temperatures! 😎🥁

Leap

 

Our stairs had one terribly creaky step, which I always tried to avoid stepping on. That usually led to a game to see how many steps I could leap over on my way down the stairs! I just had to stop myself before I faceplanted the wall on the other side of the hallway! 😅👟

I'm Good!

I LOVED going outside to ride my bike...but when the temperature suddenly dropped, and the HIGH'S were in the 30's...🚲🥶💨

Athletic Deficiency

No one accused me of having a particularly strong throwing arm! 😅🏈

Sweater

Our house growing up was traditionally cold when the temperature dropped, so it was a challenge to stay warm! Whenever I complained about being cold, my mother would tell me to "go throw a sweater on!"

Now, I had a number of knit sweaters in my clothes closet, but they were all terribly itchy!

Deal with being cold, or spend the day itching...not exactly ideal options! 🥶😖😅

Stress

Have a bad day? A good therapy session at the drumset will sort you out! 😁👌🥁

Letter

Ever heard about teachers pinning notes for parents on their children to make sure parents GET teacher notes?

It happened to me once. I don't even remember what the note was about, but I remember how embarrassing it was to have a note pinned to my jacket as I walked home from school. 😮‍💨✉️

Cheat

I'm ashamed to admit I tried to cheat on tests. 📃✏️

I was never really good at it - and was often caught. It took me a while, but I eventually realized I was better off WITHOUT my attempts at cheating. 😅

Newsstands

Newsstands! Who else misses these? True, we still have bookstores that have magazine racks, but it's just not the same.

The younger generations just won't understand...there used to be sooo many magazines, covering a wide range of subjects...and many were thick! For five bucks, you'd take home a magazine you'd spend literally hours reading through! 😁📖

The Season

Colder temperatures...strong winds...and trying to dodge leaves while walking home...

Definitely feels like Fall has arrived! 😁🍂🍁🍃

Shufflin

There's just something about the sound leaves make as you walk through them! 😊🍂🍁🍂🍁

Fire

When the temperature dropped, the house interior would generally get pretty cold. Sometimes, the best opportunity to warm up was when Dad started a fire in the fireplace! 😊🔥