What a tangled web some idiots weave

So, I know I was going to go with the "neighbor" theme for awhile, but this was too good to pass up! A tangled Christmas lights strip in the paper today -- January 3, 2005. I believe that just yesterday I pointed out this staple of holiday "humor." Today's entry is from Drabble:

In case you can't read (and by that I mean, "in case you can't make out the blurry words," NOT "in case you are illiterate." Because if you WERE illiterate, it wouldn't help me to type it here would it? Yalomh yjr Vjrosta, -- that's what it would look like to you if you really couldn't read. And this reminds me that whenever I tell my mom that our one cat always eats out of the other cat's bowl, my mom says, "You should put their names on their bowls." Then I say, "They can't read." And she says, "Then you should put their pictures on the bowls." But, I'm not sure that would work, either, they each KNOW what bowl is theirs, it's that Tigger doesn't care, she wants Honey's food!) Anyway, the comic strip guy says, "Taking the Christmas lights down is easy. The hard part is getting them all tangled up again before I put 'em away for next year."

Tangled lights humor some more. Again. Of course the difference is that he points out that he INTENTIONALLY tangles them!! And we are supposed to knowingly nod, and say, "Ah yes, tangled Christmas lights. I know the feeling! Wouldn't tangled Christmas lights be less frustrating if I tangled them intentionally?"

Are tangled lights really such a scourge that they have to be "joked" about over and over every holiday season? I mean, when we put ours away, I loop them between my elbow and hand, and they stay relatively untangled. The few bits that do get tangled up are easy to untangle. So, you know, I know what they're talking about, but really? Is it that bad? Are people across the country struggling with their lights every year? Do we need to appoint a blue ribbon panel? Are the comics just out of holiday humor?

And why is there a duck in the second panel? Stupid stupid stupid. AFLAC!

And according to the website, the Drabble family is "one of the best-loved families in the comics." Really? I hadn't even heard of it until I read it in the Washington Post 5 years ago. It's in my current local paper, the Raleigh News & Observer, as well. Best loved?? Are they kidding me?? Is THAT supposed to be funny? I can never tell.