As is our custom during the holiday season we reprise our Charlie Brown post for you. So wherever you are and whatever you’ve planned:
- may your hearts be strong, and
- may your souls be in perfect peace.
Remember our thoughts are with you.
Marsha & Pat
***
“Always winter but never Christmas.” ~ C.S. Lewis 
“I’m in sad shape, Lucy. My trouble is Christmas. I just don’t understand it. Instead of feeling happy, I feel sort of let down.” ~ Charlie Brown
The night A Charlie Brown Christmas premiered, on December 9, 1965, half of the American population watching television tuned in.
At the time it was quite controversial, criticized for being
- too religious,
- too jazzy,
- too offbeat.
And for using the voices of real children and not having a laugh track.
In December of 1965 I was in a stone cold funk. I had just broken up with my girlfriend, was in the doghouse with my mother, and was having a helluva time in chemistry class.
I was 16 years old, in the full bloom of adolescent angst.
At that time in my life I felt perpetually disconnected, especially during the holiday season. After Dad died Christmas was never the same for our little family.
By 1965 our once big extended family Christmas gathering had splintered and what had been a highly anticipated event was reduced to something small and less than joyful.
We now celebrated Christmas alone.
It was a sad affair.
Indeed, Charlie’s sad little Christmas tree mirrored my own heart. So when I sat down to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas
- I expected to see something to which I couldn’t relate.
- I expected the show to be a bouncy, upbeat affair.
- I expected Burl Ives’s Holly, Jolly Christmas.
- I expected to see happy people with joyous holiday feelings.
Feelings entirely foreign to me at the time.
What I discovered was something quite different!
I discovered that Charlie Brown’s Christmas was perfectly in sync with my own.
“Nobody sent me a Christmas card today. I know nobody likes me. Why do we have a holiday season to emphasize it.” ~ Charlie Brown
The Charlie Brown Christmas story and melancholy sound track hit me right between the eyes and settled squarely in the center of my heart.
I understood for the first time that
- My sadness
- My feelings of alienation
- My sullenness
were not all that out of the ordinary.
The story opened my eyes to the fact that many people experienced the chasm between what we would LIKE life to be and how we ACTUALLY experience it.
Charlie Brown shared an emotional honesty I found both redemptive and healing. Charlie helped me understand the important truth that life is hard in its own unique way for all of us, that no one escapes pain and suffering.
Knowing that others are experiencing what I’m experiencing, and sharing those experiences, makes all the difference in the world. I have realized that my expectations for how things should be often get in my way and actually create suffering. And slowly, over time, I have learned, as Charlie Brown did, that I have all that I need in my own imperfect life, just as it is.
“Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind.” ~ Mary Ellen Chase
So, for nearly 60 years I’ve tried to celebrate Christmas in a Charlie Brown kind of way.
Blessings to you all and Happy Holidays.
Pat and Marsha
Copyright © 2024 Patrick J. Moriarty. All Rights Reserved.