Grandpa Snyder leaves his Christmas card sample book with Sade. Whenever she tells him she doesn't want it, he pretends he's deaf.
Christmas cards will be in abundant supply all year round in the town the Gooks live in - almost like a locust plague.
MIS' CROWE SAYS:SEE THE SCRIPT (transcribed by Lydia Crowe)
Sade is put in an awkward position by an elderly Christmas-card-pushing relative.
All “Christmas card” episodes are instant classics for me because the messages on the cards are always prime examples of Rhymer humor. Sade starts to ignore Rush after he reads aloud the relatively innocuous “If I don’t receive presents I’ll jump in the lake” card, but he continues reading aloud in the background, and the messages get more and more absurd (“Give me a hug, or I’ll kick your father”). Stop interrupting him, Vic and Sade; I wanna hear the rest!
Local Christmas card pushers must have been a common small-town feature back then. It would have been a good way for unemployed people (housewives like Mis’ Harris and older people like Grandpa Snyder) to make a little spending money for the holidays. Today, anyone who lives around a high school probably experiences the Christmas card crush. I have many not-so-fond memories of hawking Christmas cards (plus wrapping paper, chocolate, fruit, popcorn, and other holiday fripperies) to raise money for my school’s music and art programs. Some of my teachers had a rule: “I’ll buy from the first person who asks me, and NO MORE.” My one surefire customer was Grandma, who faithfully bought overpriced wrapping paper and chocolate from me for years. At least we waited until November and didn’t try to get people interested in Christmas cards in June. Although we didn’t get our initials in our hat or free parking in downtown Toledo, I think there was a cheap radio or something you could win if you sold enough garbage, but I never quite hit that goal. But maybe if I’d had an ear trumpet…
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This is the first of many episodes that deal with innocuous Christmas cards. All of the cards seem silly and inappropriate for anyone but the closest of family. Actually, they sound more like Valentine's Day cards that you would get at age 7.The worst part is, it seems like everyone is selling them and just WHO are you supposed to buy them from, so that feelings won't get hurt?
Trivia:
+ Rush says that the last time (before this episode) that Rooster Davis complimented anyone was 1935.
+ Grandpa Snyder has a wheelchair and a tin horn for his ear. While he is hard of hearing, he pretends to be much more deaf than he really is. He sells Christmas cards. When you refuse to buy his cards, he yells. He spends a lot of time on Clinton Boulevard.
+ Mis' Harris also sells Christmas cards. We find she lives across the alley.
+ Mis' Scott lives next door to the Gooks. She also sells Christmas cards.
+ Bess, Sade's Sister in Carbury, sells Christmas cards for the church treasury.
+ Rush also sells Christmas cards.
+ Clinton Boulevard is mentioned. They are tearing up the street. Grandpa Snyder spends a lot of time there.
Rush (and Vic) read the Christmas cards (EDITED VERSION): {{{HEAR}}}
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