(Original Publication Date, 29 November 1990)
Panel 1: As Elizabeth heads out to catch the bus to school, she's waylaid by Elly who says that the cold, wet day they're having is the perfect opportunity to wear the scarf and hat set Grandma knitted for her.
Panel 2: As she holds out the hat and scarf, Elly tells her to make note of the fact that they match her jacket and jeans. What Elly doesn't ever realize is that they clash with a psychological need children develop about this age.
Panel 3: As Liz looks at them with something between doubt and reluctance, Elly turns her back to her so she can deliver a speech about how there's nothing Grandma would like better than to know that they're worn and appreciated on a day like this.
Panel 4: I hold my nose as I picture her yelling "BUT THAT WAS DIFFERENT" when she's horrified by the fact that Liz put the hat and scarf on a snowman. Reason: Marian might do something bad and inconvenient and wrong and say "Funny. You had no problem with not wearing a raincoat when you were that age!"
Summary: Elly never seems to have understood that at a certain stage, children want to express their independence from their mother. The idea of being coddled by Mommy is going to earn them a good scraping from their peers and Elly never manages to see that as being anything else than a desire to pull her heart out of her ribcage and stomp on it until she dies.