For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 01, 2014

Our party just finished up and I at least picked up a little bit. No kiddies will be getting into old drinks or stale snacks here.Happy New Year!

In Wisconsin, it’s customary after a brat cookout for the little brats to wander around and finish off the bottles of beer.

Funny how when it’s forbidden it’s tastes good, now I can’t stand to drink anything with alcohol in it nowadays.

Wise.

Then my brother would run to mom to tattle

Happy New Year (eCard)

Story from Lynn’s childhood, her parents left that mess for her brother and her. I forgot to copy it though.

Sadly, I enjoy the taste of most alcohol, but not soda. But I don’t enjoy being drunk, so it hasn’t really been much of a problem.

First tasted ‘alcoholic beverages’ when after ‘rabbit hunting’ my father would fix me a ‘Hot Toddy’ to warm me up, it wasn’t too bad. Some time later, when they were out of the house, I tried a ‘straight shot’ of blended Kentucky Whiskey, couldn’t understand how anyone could drink it. My parents later developed into alcoholics which put the ‘finishing touch’ on my dislike of such beverages.

Spalding approvesFind’s Beeper’s convertible…HNY

I wish gocomics.com would start using “Disqus” for comments. It is a much better system.

I remember a New Year’s Eve and a bottle of Southern Comfort coming together once with disastrous results. Can’t even look at a label of that stuff without shuddering now.

These days, it’s a little Bailey’s here, a little Whidbey loganberry or raspberry liqueur there…otherwise, it’s a bottle of Clausthaler Premium NA beer. Age isn’t necessarily accompanied by acquired wisdom, but it’s pretty hard to get away from acquired regret.

that brings back some memories

Don’t forget to try the stale pretzels, Michael.

As a great singer named Melanie Safka sang: “I can’t stand the taste of leftover wine.” :)

I can’t stand to get up to the leftover party mess, so my wife and I stay up and clean up the mess.

when i was younger and had parties with my parents, the fanciest drinks we had were sparkling juices. No alcohol at their parties! the older kids, who actually stayed up til 12 (not our 9oclock pretend one for the kids) always helped clean up after guests (mostly families with kids) left.

Is 21 also the drinking age in Canada? If it were my New Year’s party, I’d go for cranberry juice. In the mean time, “For Better or For Worse” readers, Happy New Year’s.

I’m pretty sure that in the past, I read that some parents got in trouble when their kids showed up drunk at the neighbors to play, when the sleeping it off parents left the party mess where it lay. No one has mentioned the dangers in this strip’s scenario? Must I do all the work? ; )

I just looked it up, and the legal drinking age in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec is 18. All provinces allow underage drinking at home under parental supervision. In fact in the Americas (North and South) only the United States and Paraguay have a legal drinking age above 19. Most countries have the age set at 18.

Elly’s going to wake up to the sound of both her kids throwing up. Not a good way to face the day. Especially if she has a hangover of her own. Guess she’ll be shoving the kids aside for her turn at the “throne”. She should have made sure there wasn’t any alcohol left out. Dropped the ball again!

Given the look on Michael’s face, I doubt that either one of them will take anymore than that one sip.

Old Timer: On the other hand, don’t. They tell me my password is invalid, but if I try to register again, they tell my my identity is already in use (by me). stmp is just as bad, cutting me out of commenting and replying to emails. With no explanation, Verizon has “forbidden” me to listen or comment on A Way with Words.

HAPPY and HEALTHY 2014 TO ALL!

Doesn’t seem like they are going to want to go any further — judging from Michael’s reaction.

I was always allowed to have alcohol at home — I couldn’t understand the teenage fascination with getting it illegally. I had my first sip of whiskey at 4 — still won’t touch the stuff. I never had any alcohol while out with friends before I was 21 and rarely very much after that. I have been drunk a couple of times in my life but it didn’t take much to get me there, and it wasn’t a place I wanted to visit again.