(Strip Number 6078, Original Publication Date, 13 December 1981)
Panel 1: As our story continues, we find Elly and Anne having a cuppa coffee; Annie, who's got Christopher in her arms, asks Elly what John's getting her this year.
Panel 2: Elly says that she has no idea.
Panel 3: Christmas, you see, is a problem; every year, John seems to get her things that she doesn't need or things she doesn't want like appliances or other kitchenware. (This, of course, owing to her dimwit chauvinist husband's belief that she's the organic adjunct of a gas range.)
Panel 4: She then says that she wishes that John was the sort of man who'd read her mind without having to ask her what she wants.
Panel 5: Some men have the knack of not being dunderheads who always buy something inappropriate; that doesn't apply to John.
Panel 6: She'd rather have a simple, plain ring than a big ticket appliance.
Panel 7: Anne sets up the punchline by telling her to help John out by flat-out telling him what she wants.
Panel 8: This shocks, confuses and horrifies Elly and makes her ask "What? And ruin the surprise?"
Summary: Not only would it ruin the anticipation, it would mean that Elly wouldn't be martyred; it just wouldn't be Christmas in the Pattermanse if she weren't disappointed by the idiocy and sexism of her cretin of a husband or if he weren't left wondering if she wanted to marry Professor X.