Today's post was planned well in advance of the unseasonably warm weather we're experiencing in the Shenandoah Valley. Who wants 70 degrees on February 19th anyway? Not me, I tell you. Not. Me. Not even for a short time. Winter is my favorite season, and I like winter to feel like winter. You know, Jack Frost nipping at your nose and all that jazz. So, I figured I could turn today's Countdown to 40 post about Christmas with A Charlie Brown Christmas into a protest of the spring-like weather.
As I established in my recent post about Home Alone, Christmas plays a large role in my sense of identity. It's my favorite holiday in my favorite season. No single pop-culture reference symbolizes that fact more perfectly than A Charlie Brown Christmas. I look forward to watching the television special each year, and of all the holiday music I listen to, Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack to the TV special takes billing as my absolute best-loved, and "Christmas Time Is Here" earns recognition as most beloved Christmas song of all-time. Added together, and A Charlie Brown Christmas equals a triple threat on my Countdown to 40 as a beloved television show featuring a beloved soundtrack with a beloved song. Growing up, my parents made A Charlie Brown Christmas an annual event, reminding my siblings and I when it was going to air on TV and being sure we all watched it together. I continued that tradition after leaving home, in college and well beyond into adulthood. To this day, I find something so nostalgically wonderful about the special and how it captures everything I love most about the holiday. It's as if Charles M. Schulz took all the potential upsides and all the potential downsides of Christmas and turned them into a story that speaks to adults every bit as much as it speaks to children. At an age younger than ten, I knew the story Linus shares when Charlie Brown asks whether or not anybody can tell him the meaning of Christmas. As an adult, however, I understand the story and all of its implications, not only in terms of the special's narrative but also in the grand scheme of life. What I'm left with every single time I see A Charlie Brown's Christmas is a profound sense of love, acceptance, and hope, and if that's not the message generally intended by Christmas itself, I do not know what is.
0 Comments
|
AUTHOR
I am a self-proclaimed pop culture geek and list enthusiast who is celebrating the big four-zero by counting down the most important, influential, and favorite music, movies, television shows, books, and video games of my life so far. Categories
All
Archives |