No, it wasn’t a shock, it was yet another kick in the teeth – something not exactly uncommon in December.
He’s fictional. I don’t think he cares.
–Cliffy
Could be. I haven’t read the Gospels in a while. I was just going on memory, wherein I seem to recall that Jesus’s “backstory” is far more developed in Matthew than in the rest of the Gospels. I bow to your knowledge. Of course, as they’re both synoptic Gospels, there may be a lot of overlap anyway.
Now I’ll have to go home and double check my Bible. Another thing on the to do list…
I can understand a non-Christian child’s – any child’s – attraction to such a special. First, it’s a cartoon involving children. Second, it’s a chance to see familar characters talking and moving – i.e., not frozen on newsprint. Third, it was a rare piece of kid-oriented TV programing at an hour dominated by, I dunno, “Sanford and Son.”
I don’t want her getting the idea that it’s okay to talk to a friend like that.
Yeah, well. Better she hear it with you alongside, when you can turn it around and make it a positive lesson in That Wasn’t Very Nice, Was It? She’s going to get an earful of it anyway, on the playground or bus.
Remember, she’s a Scientologist . . . “That’s kind of a religion . . .”
There’s no overlap in the Christmas story between Luke and Matthew. In Matthew, the announcement of Jesus’s birth comes to Joseph in a dream; in Luke, the angel speaks to Mary. Matthew has the wisemen; Luke has the shepherds.
From my recollection of the Peanuts special, Linus recites from Luke 2: 8-14:
Then he says, “That’s what it’s all about, Charlie Brown.”
A kick in the teeth? “A Charlie Brown Christmas”? A kick in the teeth?? Wow! And I thought Christians were supposed to be the overly sensitive ones.
Oh dear, on preview I now see Northern Piper has just launched a full-scale assault by quoting the offending lines themselves. The teeth are flying!
That’s it. That’s the quote.
The best part for me is the dance scene to “Linus and Lucy.”
Oh, okay, second best. The best is when they decorate the tree at the end.
That’s exactly what she did hear.
Why would I need to expose her to things like that over and over and over again, though? There’s a lot of things I don’t want her to do, but that doesn’t mean we need to sit and watch those things on the idiot box while I sit there and go “that’s bad, don’t ever do that.”
Sure, she’s going to HEAR it on the school bus someday, because kids are mean. The goal is that she won’t be participating in it.
To paraphrase last night’s episode of South Park, Christmas is the time of year when you’re told that Christmas comes just once a year.
Or as Bart Simpson put it, “This is the time of year when people of all faiths
get together to worship Jesus.”
Gee, you really put me in my place. It’s a good thing I’m so very interested in what you have to say.
–Cliffy
To help keep your Nativity Gospel stories straight:
Matthew: Focuses on the ancestors of Jesus, tells the story from Joseph’s point of view, includes the story of the Wise Men or Magi or astrologers. (Choose your favorite translation).
Luke: Focuses on Mary and her viriginity. Starts with the Annunciation of John the Baptist, then of Jesus. Includes shepherds and staying in a manger because of the lack of proper lodging facilities in the greater Bethlehem area.
Mark: Starts with Jesus as an adult
John: Weird symbolic beginning where the word “Word” is repeated over and over and over.
I was recently informed by my mother that the commercial has been on the air this year. Score!
(My sister and I confess to actually tearing up when we see it.)
Abby, I think you’re overreacting. Yes, Charlie Brown’s friends dump on him a lot-but it’s not portrayed as a positive thing at all! I can’t imagine anything more child-friendly yet not too cloying for an adult than the Peanuts gang.
To Eve’s point, I recall in my high school child development class an assignment to view a children’s program and report on whether or not it was appropriate. One girl in particular (who, I suspect, bleached her brains along with her hair) complained about a Christmas special because it talked about God. The teacher looked at her kind of funny and she said, “Well, what if the parent doesn’t want their kid to believe that?”
It just struck me as kind of odd. If you’re that deadset against mentioning god on TV, I doubt you’d celebrate Christmas.
I’m working retail in the music department of a big box bookstore this Christmas. I’ve already logged a solid 100+ hours of Christmas music. At this point the Charlie Brown stuff is the only thing we play that doesn’t make me want to kill people.
Whenever “Linus And Lucy” comes on, I wonder if it isn’t the most utterly perfect three minutes of music ever recorded.
Perhaps Linus knew the quote from Luke from memory because, you know, they were putting on a nativity play.
Also, Linus has above average intelligence. If you’re going to raz a kid for being smart on this board, better think twice… this board is full of Linuses, and we’re not little kids anymore who are gonna take it lying down with our blankie and with our thumb in our mouths.
You keep up this dissing of Linus, and I’m gonna tell an administrator, and you’re gonna be in lots of trouble! 
Point 1: A couple episodes ago on Arrested Development, they played the “Christmastime is Here” music every time one of the characters became sad or disappointed. And they had the characters walking with their heads hanging so far down, they were pretty much perpendicular to their bodies. It was hilarious.
Point 2: Given all the Biblical quotations in Peanuts and A Charlie Brown Christmas, I was quite surprised to read that Charles Schulz considered himself a secular humanist. I assume that back when he made A Charlie Brown Christmas, he was much more religious.
Well, if so, it makes me admire him even more than I already did, and I admired the man immensely; he was always my favorite cartoonist as a kid and even now, when I can think of a dozen or more comic strips that I love, I still love Peanuts, and identify with the characters, more than any other strip. 12 Feb 2000 was a terrible day for me.
It’s just that this comes across as mother-bird sheltering, not good rearing or lesson-teaching.
To remove “Charlie Brown Christmas” because there’s people behaving poorly in it is just somewhat weird. I mean, if you think she’s going to be that influenced by people behaving badly in it, why don’t you think she’s also going to be influenced by people behaving nicely in it? Are you scared she won’t be able to figure out which ones she should emulate?
The whole lesson of the thing is that at Christmas you’re often surrounded by griping and stress and commercialization but you should remember that it’s really about the baby Jesus and being together with people.
You’re completely missing the point by censoring it because of one little scene in it.
On the other hand, when Lucy assigns Linus the role of shepherd, he
complains that he can’t memorize that many lines that quickly.
We’ve just discovered another sin of the CB Xmas: Inconsistent characerization.
Eh, well, he was just complaining out of laziness. He knew perfectly well he could do it. 
Reminds me of one Sunday Peanuts strip where a group of kids is standing, and in each panel one of them is reciting their part for the Christmas play, and in each panel Linus is mumbling about how he’s doomed, he can’t remember his line, etc. Then Lucy, standing by him, whispers something like “You better remember right now, or when we get home I’m going to pound you good!” and Linus shouts “THE STAR THAT SHONE AT BETHLEHEM STILL SHINES FOR US TODAY!” (or something similar) and passes out, and Lucy whispers something like “Merry Christmas, you blockhead.” It’s touching.