"After many hints, I thought I had finally managed to convince Mom how absolutely necessary it was for me to get a .22 rifle for Christmas. Talk about your parental cruelty! You would think a mother could find a more suitable package for long underwear than an empty rife box! And where were the skis? After all the work I'd put into building her a nice flower box, this was the thanks I got?"
— Pat McManus
Christmas
Original limited-edition 1988 calendar art by Gary Williams. Framed with a 1" wide black mat for a finish size of 11" x 14". The back of the illustration has calendar date boxes with entries from a journal Pat kept as a 10-year-old in their original sequence. This was done to help scholars gain insight into the thought and motivation processes of the young Pat McManus, and also because the boxes seemed so empty.