On the trappings and the trimmings.

Given the time of year, one could well imagine that were Lynn to bother showing us the modern-day Pattersons instead of just possibly inserting a new-run into the mix in order to make the strips line up better, we'd probably be dealing with the Pattersons putting together another holiday of excess and exclusion of the disfavoured. The too big of a tree would be decorated to just this side of garishness, the decorations would be put up with all the care that an indifferent old grouch with a sore back would lavish on them, Elly would do that thing where she stands there all martyred because no one actually wants to help an unappreciative clod who screams and pouts when they don't do things her way and we'd have them all avoiding the same point they duck the rest of the year: what a person feels or intends is bollocks next to what they actually do.

This means that if Deanna doesn't mean to treat April like her fucking nanny, it doesn't matter worth a damn if that was her intention or if she feels bad, she's treating April like her fucking nanny and it ends right there. It means that if Liz makes comment after comment about how it's not her fault that for reasons she'd rather not go into, that child Anthony had with that woman felt so unwelcome, she went with her birth mother instead of the family that meant to love her, things just happened different, she can jolly well have nutmeg with her cup of FOAD because she made the place a hostile work environment and has to feel bad about it. If Mike ignores his children and resents their presence when he has no chance to avoid them, he's a shitty father no matter what he thinks. If John and Elly make a point of not seeing that they've alienated April, they need the gift of being told "Take your feelings and shove'em up yer arse." They won't, though. They're the sort of people who thinks consequences are for others, not them.