Stuffed with kid's stuff...

Since we're rejoining the classic strip this Valentine's Day, I feel it fair to point out that next week's plotline is about John getting bent out of shape because the kids have so much stuff just lying around that they don't seem to appreciate. Elly's response is to offer him a hypocritical bit of fluff about how, since they're making up for their own deprived childhoods by giving their children the stuff their parents couldn't afford, he'd simply have to inure himself to clutter. Her saying so is almost as hilarious as her telling Mike that she hates to nag him about picking up his toys; in both cases, she's got it in her head that she's this really tolerant, forgiving person when she's sort of a thin-skinned old scold who loves to nurse grudges. What this means is that while John looks at the big pile of toys as some sort of 'proof' that his children are ungrateful, Elly tends to regard the fact that they hate Mommy and want her to be miserable. Neither of them are willing to admit that children actually do get bored and might want human contact instead of a big pile of stuff they don't really know what to do with.