This low-key but charming animated holiday special, featuring Charles Schulz's beloved "Peanuts" characters, is one I always associated with the happy Christmas memories. Seeing it again this season (its been aired since 1965 annually network television) it is still a more realistic depiction of the American-version of the Nativity holiday than many a live-action "mature" film of more recent vintage.
Even grown-ups who might find this familiar tale of cartoon-dom's favorite angst-ridden Everyman, Charlie Brown, and his holiday despair--and the exasperation this behavior causes to his precocious younger friend Linus and his sister, the loud-mouthed and rather clinical Lucy-- a bit too familiar now can enjoy the wonderful piano jazz of composer Vince Guaraldi, a soundtrack of music that is also perfect for opening your presents if you can find the soundtrack on CD!
I'll have to come back to this Doug, the PC has lost it's sound drivers!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't think Linus is right when he says Charlie Brown is the only person who can take a" wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem".
ReplyDeleteFamilies up and down the land seem to manage that bit of alchemy every year Doug, although my view may now change, since this will be the first Christmas for 5 years that I have not been working all night in crisis intervention at either hospitals or police stations.
I have a few pre-Christmas crises to deal with first however, so maybe not?
I hope you have a good one anyway Doug !
There is that lovely thing where snow blankets the place in muffled silence and one wakes to a strange reflected light in the bedroom. This is all so wonderful...
ReplyDeleteBut then................................. comes the drip drip drip of the thaw, which puts the fear of god in the hearts of conservatory owners. :-)
Dear old Snoopy what fun the Charlie Brown cartoons are.
Thank you for reminding me of this character, Doug..........
No, Linus obviously is a bit too localized in his thinking there, AA. Your work with people in bad straits come the holidays over those five years no doubt shows that "holiday spirit" is hard on those who are already not in the best coping mode.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you're something of a respite from the brunt of that burden. I seen and read about the severe cold weather your way---a potential problem for anyone in the health or public safety fields. The images of stranded motorists on freeways and would-be passengers stuck at major airports in England make one naturally hope this arctic weather goes back to Finland or Minnesota, USA, where they are used to coping with it.
Happy wishes of the season to you and yours!
Yes, some of my best memories of my first winter or two in Oregon, Cassandra, are the walks down a quiet, quiet, and freshly snowy neighborhood street. The stillness is at first a bit eerie, then wonderful!
ReplyDeleteWhere I'm Iive now the snow is more sporadic, it comes and goes when it likes and cannot be relied on. But the rain and cold is never faraway.
I hope, despite the problems for conservatory owners, your area is seeing some thaw from all the sudden snowfall that has snarled the roads in parts of western England and other areas. Highways are especially tricky in such times, and stories hearing about people stranded in their cars on turnpikes and such I hope will abate.
Charles Schulz was an amazing illustrator who transcended his times. His perspectives on childhood and the humor of seeing adult traits emerge in the young created iconic characters sure to be cherished for decades. I'm happy this brings back positive memories for you, as it does for me.