Longtime readers of the original strip will likely remember all of Dandy's failed attempts at catching Santa. But for new readers, I wanted to give enough exposition to understand what was happening and that it was a regular thing.
With THIS gag, I wanted to set up both Dandy's reasoning for all of it, AND reveal the reason he never succeeds.
Also, eagle eyed long time readers will see stockings for both Mae and Mistake. Both characters moved out at the end of the last series. Mae and George had separated and Mistake moved back in with his owner, Herb. The stockings are there because in the case of Mae, like some families that have split up, they still will celebrate certain holidays together for the kids. And Mistake is ALWAYS family and will be coming over as frequently as he used to now that Herb has moved back into town. (Which means he will be popping up eventually soon.)
