A Charlie Brown Christmas

As a child, the official start of the Christmas season was the night we all gathered around our black and white tv for the annual airing of A Charlie Brown Christmas. I have watched it faithfully every year since, and Jack and Chrissy enjoy it as much today as I did at their age.

Now the the longest-running holiday special on TV, CBS originally created the animation in response to a request by Coca-Cola for a Christmas special to air their commercials. When CBS saw the finished product they were less than pleased with the jazzy soundtrack as well as the highly religious theme. But in keeping with their commitment to their sponsor, they aired the special as scheduled on December 9, 1965. A Charlie Brown Christmas drew in 15.4 million viewers, and won Charles Schulz and animator Lee Mendelson an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program.

The soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi is amongst my favorite jazz albums.