When all the Melonheads are “sheltering in place,” an occasional boo-boo is bound to happen. And why bother running to the doctor/Urgent Care/Emergency Room when Mommy and her trusty box o’ cotton balls are right there?

Meanwhile, Billy has doubts about Mommy’s intuitive skills.

Fortunately, Jeffy, being a comic character, never stays dead for long…well, until Big Daddy ultimately gets his hands on the little squid. In the meantime, there’s always Thel.

Sputum? Cream of Wheat?

And like we care if Jeff Keane or a hapless chimpanzee actually draws and offers the laffs in Family Circus:

Big Daddy’s MIA for two weeks, and Billy was forced into indentured servitude. Yeah, like anyone cared!

Sibling rivalry…how I love it!

When Big Daddy Bil sneaks out on a weekend afternoon, Mommy Thel is left at home, not only with the melonheads:

but also with her judgmental lady visitors:

(That saguaro picture is particularly confusing, too.)

And Billy just likes to think of ways that he can succeed in reducing the number of excess siblings:

And with the New Year moving on, Dolly just can’t catch a break.

(Commentary from John Weaver at FB’s Readers of the Comics Curmudgeon: “Damn, the way he draws an Asian character, like Mickey Rooney is still alive. ” All too true, Mr. Weaver.)

What more needs to be said?

The desultory longing goes on…

And now it’s time to return to the drudgery of everyday life in mid-century Scottsdale, where it still manages to snow at least three times each winter, just so Dolly can wear her stupid winter hat…

Looks like Mommy got a good start on the New Year by making sure the melonheads know where her limitations are…

Thel’s not being an especially good girl, either….

And Thel? It seems that it’s time for a little schoolin’ for the melonheads…

We’re coming down to the home stretch, and even the melonheadiest of them all needs to realize the limits of blasphemy…

…or am I really hearing something?

Minga’s right…it’s the only merciful thing to do.

Whoa! Whoa! WHOA! Treacherous climbs! Weird sounds! Male-bonding! Sometimes, we all have to sit back and think things over quietly and calmly…

You’ll feel better…honestly!

Moms really take the brunt of getting ready for the holidays, and Thel finds herself dangling by her last nerve all too often.

Maybe the Keanes should just ditch the Christmas cards and send amorphous greetings to everyone one their email address list…

And then you really have no choice but to go out into public from time to time.