Santa Project Season 2: Charlie Brown Christmas

Last Night was the 58th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas.   When it comes to Christmas, it's one of my earliest memories.   And it would continue to be one of my fondest.  Remember the days when you only had one shot to watch it? 

No Cable, no VCRs, no DVD. 

If you missed it, you had to wait until Christmas rolled around again, tough underpants. 

So last night Frani and I watched it. 

Guess what, folks, it pretty much holds up.  And not just for nostalgia's sake.  Charlie Brown's battle with holiday depression, and inability to get into the spirit rings true with me. It has in the past quite often, and even does today, even in this moment.  I've been battling getting into the mode: listening to Christmas music, watching holiday films, trying to reminisce about what the season meant to me as a kid.  This blog is part of that, every year, as I make an effort to document what made the season so great for me over the years. 

 It's getting there, however.  I can feel it growing on me as December crawls through us. 

 

As far as Charles Schulz' Peanuts gang goes, Lucy's presence as friend/quasi-nemesis to Charlie is the one thing that the Thanksgiving episode doesn't have.  When she's not trying to help Charlie, she's needling him with verbal barbs, as the rest of the cast begins to do until the true meaning (thanks, Linus) rolls out for Charlie Brown. Charlie finally has the ability to cast aside his fear of commercialism ruining the holiday. There's a lot of laughs here from most of the Peanuts gang, and a chunk of "Good Griefs!" for flavor.

Speaking of flavor, who doesn't love a Zinger!!  My favorite is the coconut raspberry, and that's odd, because I can't really stand Coconut.  It's not the taste, it's the consistency. (Fans of Zombieland and Woody Harrelson know what I'm gettin' at there.) 

 

The peanuts gang advertising all hours on television for Dolly Madison brand cakes was kind of something fun to watch for, if not for 60, maybe 30 seconds of your day. Now I think Dolly Madison only has their name on cakes that end up in vending machines or convenience stores because the big box bears the hostess label.  So I’m really not sure of what the legal standing is of Dolly Madison, but I know it’s still floating around out there.

I don’t know about you, but I take comfort in that. 

Back to the special, you have to mention the genius of the Vince Guardini Trio's kickin' jazz driving the special along.  In 1965, that had to be a bold stylistic musical choice, and I'm glad they went with it, because the music just seems to help the special breathe in a unique way.