A Charlie Brown Christmas

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” marked its 50th anniversary this week as the show was aired on ABC this past Monday night. This reminded me of sharing the story at our 2011 Christmas Eve service and I think it bears repeating.

Back in 1965 the idea was pitched by CBS . . . had Mr. Schultz ever considered doing a Christmas show with the Peanuts characters?  And so Charles Schultz went to work on “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” And the network “suits” quickly began to have doubts about his concepts.

There was to be no laugh track. How would people know when to laugh? There was a battle over the voice overs. Schultz insisted on using children; CBS wanted adult voices. There was a problem with the jazz soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi. It was too mature for a kid’s program. And finally, and looming largest of all, there was no way that Linus reciting the King James Bible from Luke 2 would work; audiences would be turned off by that for sure.

To his credit Mr. Schultz stuck to his guns and his concept and CBS reluctantly agreed to air the show even though they were certain it would be a flop. One executive suggested that at least it would be good for a tax write off.

The show aired on December 9, 1965; preempting The Munsters and followed by Gilligan’s Island. Linus’ recitation from Luke lasted all of 51 seconds and Charlie Brown realized that he did have to let commercialism ruin his Christmas.

The show was an immediate hit; it won an Emmy and a Peabody award and has aired every year since during the Christmas season. 

The only other show that has even come close in popularity is about a certain Grinch who tries to steal Christmas. And even he wrestled with the true meaning of Christmas:

"And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?It came without ribbons! It came without tags!"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore.Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store."Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"-- Dr. Seuss, How The Grinch Stole Christmas

So how should we respond to story of Jesus birth this season? We can find all our cues from the characters in the Biblical narrative:
Wisemen call us to WONDER; Angels call us to JOY; Mary calls us to MARVEL and MEDITATE; Shepherds call us to SHARE THE GOOD NEWS.

So don’t let the secularization and commercialization of Christmas take a toll on your this season. Just like Charlie Brown, let’s all be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas– the birth of Jesus Christ.

Grace and Peace,
Fred