Maybe it’s because I felt like Charlie Brown when I was a kid, unpopular and doomed for failure at every turn, but I have always considered “Peanuts” my favorite comic strip. I felt a kinship to Charlie Brown in all of his escapades….from kicking a football to having an empty mailbox on Valentine’s Day.  Move forward 40 or so years and I still smile when I see Snoopy, Lucy or any of the gang on a greeting card or even in Met Life commercial. So, it’s no wonder what my very favorite holiday special is – A Charlie Brown Christmas!

I watched last night, just like virtually every Christmas season for the past 45 years. The special was Charles M. Schultz’s first and most primitive animated project, but in my book the best of them all (sorry Rudolph and Frosty!). The essence is of Charlie Brown’s disdain for the commercialization of Christmas, a theme as salient today as it was in 1965 when it aired for the first time. I’m not overly religious, but I get a lump in my throat when Linus takes to the stage during the kid’s chaotic play rehearsal to explain to Charlie Brown, the true meaning of Christmas.

Today, I’m sure the political correctness police would shutter at Linus’ dissertation, but the years have given the Peanuts gang a reprieve; and I for one am very grateful!