(Strip Number 7103, Original Publication Date, 20 December 1981)
Panel 1: As our story continues, we find Mike and Lizzie on the couch; since she wants to know what the back story to Christmas is, he's reading from a largish book called The Christmas Story. He outs himself as being a seven year old who reads at a lower grade level than he should by saying "Well, they couldn't stay at the hotel, see...so the manager says they can sleep in the barn."
Panel 2: Lizzie reminds us that she little by saying "Look! Baby!"; Mike agrees that it is a baby.
Panel 3: As he continues on, he says "So, they got the baby, see, an'they put him in the manger. An'angels were on the roof an'there was this star."
Panel 4: We shift our focus to reveal that Elly is watching Mike reading to Lizzie; as she smiles at them, he says "An'then these three wise guys 'cided to bring presents so they got on their camels an' brought gold an'two other things."
Panel 5: "By this time, there was sheep an'farmers all over the place....with everyone comin'to see the baby."
Panel 6: Elly's disembodied head materializes and tells Mike that she doesn't think that he's reading that exactly the way it's written.
Panel 7: Since he doesn't realize that he's supposed to agree with her, he says that he doesn't have to.
Panel 8: He, you see, knows it off by heart.
Summary: What I see when I look at this is a normal child trying to guess at words and concepts that he isn't familiar with and coming up with a mildly distorted version of the Nativity; I don't mind this because it's what would happen in the real world. I also see that we'll get a lot of gushy letters from people who'll read the notes and still not realize that Lynn and Elly are disappointed that Mike is a regular little boy instead of one of the pint-sized theologians who live in Schulz's Void.