Groundhog Day is weird, but not as weird as it could be
03 February 2026 • by Bob • Humor
I love the web-based comic xkcd, and quite often its author, Randall Munroe, hits a home run. In honor of this year's traditional observation of Groundhog Day, Munroe penned the following gem:
While I love the overall theme of this comic, I'm inclined to disagree with its basic premise, because many of our other holidays far outweigh Groundhog Day when it comes to "weirdness."
For example, let's consider Christmas, which happens once a year around the Winter Solstice when the world collectively agrees to participate in a cheerful, global home‑invasion ritual conducted by a jolly, red‑clad sky captain who commands a herd of antlered flight-beasts. This tortured soul is Santa, a man who is essentially a benevolent reverse‑burglar that breaks into your house, but instead of stealing your stuff, he leaves objects behind. He does this by sliding down a soot-filled chimney like a festive raccoon with a gift‑distribution quota. Santa keeps meticulous behavioral dossiers on every human child, categorizing them into "pleasant" and "needs improvement." The pleasant ones receive toys, and the others get… well, theoretically coal, but honestly Santa's pretty soft about it. Meanwhile, lurking in the background is Krampus - Santa's chaotic coworker. Think of him as the unpaid intern of mischief. He's a goat‑demon with the energy of someone who shows up to the office holiday party uninvited and starts reorganizing the furniture. His job is to scare kids into good behavior, but he mostly just vibes menacingly with a sack and some chains. Together, Santa and Krampus form a kind of cosmic good‑cop/bad‑cop duo who supervise the annual ritual of decorating trees indoors, wearing socks on fireplaces, and consuming alarming quantities of sugar. At the end of the night, everyone wakes up delighted, confused, and slightly sticky from candy canes.
Yup, Groundhog Day pales in comparison to Christmas on the weirdness scale.