Christmas Link Roundup Part 3

(See Part 1 here, and part 2 here.)

First panel of a Christmas cartoon strip by Alexander Shen.

Dave Barry's Holiday Gift Guide (including the Hug Me Pillow).

Monstrous Nutcracker by Jared Deal for the Vinyl Toy Network.

Win a Chuckanuka.

Lemony Snicket gives holiday advice. For example:

Dear Mr. Snicket: Why does it always have to be coal? Why shouldn't a concerned parent give their ill-behaved youngsters something more accessible for modern times, say, a stick of firewood or a dried lump of mud?
--Woody

Dear Woody: Under enough pressure, a lump of coal may eventually become a diamond, but a stick of firewood, in the hands of an ill-behaved youngster under pressure from a concerned parent, invariably becomes a prop in a nice rousing game of Joan of Arc. Does anyone smell something burning?