Blogoversary/Holiday Celebration Day 19

Today’s guest poster is Mike from Mediaphile & YabYum Music. He’ll be talking about why he loves Charlie Brown Christmas
——————————————————————————————————————————

A Charlie Brown Christmas has always held a special place in my heart.

Until recently, if you’d asked me why, I’m not sure I could’ve come up with a coherent answer.

“Well, uh, trees, and ‘Jingle Bells,’ and Snoopy, you know?”

Who really knows why they like anything when they’re a little kid? Hell, I was a big fan of sitting upside-down on the couch until I was 12.

Now, pushing 30, worrying about my rent and my Sahara of a love life, I finally understand what it is about this cartoon that really gets me. It’s the melancholy.

Too often in our television and in movies, the holidays are reduced to being lazy after big meals and getting hit in the nuts with Christmas paraphernalia (the tree, ornaments, the baby Jesus, what have you). I like my Christmas ham, and I chuckle just like any guy at the sight of some other dude taking a hit to the babymaker, but, really, is that what the holidays are all about?

No. And Charles Schulz understood this. They are about anxiety. And being annoyed seeing Wal-Mart decorated all Christmasy the day after Thanksgiving. And nameless despair.

There are good things, too. Presents, and family, and seeing little kids get excited when they get a toy that baffles anyone over eight years of age. But to ignore the melancholy is to do St. Nick an injustice.

A Charlie Brown Christmas revolves around Charlie Brown’s disgust at how commercial the holiday has become. Who hasn’t felt this way? Besides marketing executives? When he laments “My own dog gone commercial. Oh, no.” I feel for the poor kid. Giant plastic candy canes just don’t do much for the soul.

Later, Charlie confesses to Lucy (in her lemonade stand psychiatrist role) that he is afraid of everything. At the end of the year, looking back at missed opportunities, and forward to the uncertainty of a new calendar, I can’t imagine not being a little scared.

I am not a religious man. But Linus’ speech gets me every time I watch the special. He uses the story of Jesus to make Charlie feel better about the holidays. But you could substitute the Bible for any number of things. What he says is that Christmas is about more than what we see on TV. I think that’s all we really need.

And this, my friends, is why I want to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas every year going forward. Happy Holidays! Eat lots, have fun, and make 2009’s exit a joyous one! Drea, thanks for the opportunity to write for BookBlather.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Thanks Mike! Man, anyone else have the urge to go watch Charlie Brown Christmas now?!