A Charlie Brown Christmas and the Glow of Colored Lights

Each year, during the month of December, my daughter and I have a tradition of watching A Charlie Brown Christmas with a cup of hot chocolate. We take apart the Charlie Brown diorama that has been set up for fall, and replace it with a winter scene - the one in the holiday special where they go to shop for their Christmas tree. 

While I've yet to find a mini Charlie Brown Christmas tree to scale with this scene that would work, these bottle brush trees seem to capture the colors and images of the tree lot scene well, and we'll just say Charlie Brown is staring off into the distance with a smile, seeing that sparse little tree he wants to buy at the other end of the tree lot.  

A full moon brightens up their way and the glittered background reflects light to make it look like the Milky Way in the Christmas Time night sky. 

These are beautiful, though Charlie Brown sees a tree that is much more real in the distance,
one that is a little beaten down by life like he is

Linus and his blanket at the Christmas tree lot 

Linus shows his support like a good friend should, and brings his blanket to the event, as always. Maybe being misunderstood is bearable when you have at least one friend who is willing to go with you on the journey. Who doesn't want to turn around and see this guy smiling at you? 

It has been such a long, hard year. It has been such a long hard few years, for myself, for all of us on a planet that has been through a pandemic that has forever changed our lives. The marathon continues, and there are a hundred things to do before 2023 turns into 2024, but before this year gets away, I wanted to just have a few peaceful, creative moments, to take a few photos and write a few words....

There is something powerful about the collective experience a generation shares, and there is something amazing about how the smallest of things can help us make that connection. When I would watch Peanuts holiday specials as a kid, I would get this sense that all my problems would go away for those 30 minutes, and I loved the feeling I was watching it with all the other kids in America at the same time.   

I went downstairs this afternoon, tired, holding an empty laundry basket, clean clothes just dropped off in an upstairs room, and as I walked toward the lights of the Christmas tree in our living room, I was thinking of everyone I have loved and lost. I was looking under the tree to see if I had forgotten to put anything there. I was thinking of how I ran out of time to do all the things I meant to. I was thinking of Gen X Christmases come and gone, thinking of how I need to get dinner on the table and of the suitcases I need to pack. I was thinking of all the problems I have that still did not get solved in 2023, of how much work there will be to do in the new year, and all the things I still need to sort out in my life, and said to no one in particular, "I feel lost in time and space." 

And my daughter walked up to me and whispered in my ear, "You are right where you are supposed to be." That might just be about the most comforting thing anyone has ever said to me. 

As hard as all of this is, as bleak and cold as this collective dark night of the soul has seemed, maybe we really are right where we are supposed to be - and there is a hope in that.

Merry Christmas, Generation X, 

to you and to the younger generations you share your holiday specials with.

How we made this diorama

box for scene: painted wood crate purchased from a craft store

moon and sparkly night sky: scrapbooking paper

trees: dyed bottle brush trees, some with snow flocking

ground: white felt

snow drifts: cotton 

fence: purchased unfinished from a miniatures store and painted white 

Linus' blanket: a piece of my old blue tee shirt

tree lot string lights: battery powered colored fairy lights attached with white electrical tape

And for one of our favorite hot chocolate recipes: 

Hot Chocolate and a Charlie Brown Christmas

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(c) 2023 writing and photos by Chloe Koffas

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and the Glow of Autumn Lights

Gen Xers grew up with A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving as a mainstay TV special every year just before the big Fall holiday. I loved to watch it decades back as a kid with a bowl of popcorn. If it was snowy or a little stormy that night, that was even better.

Below is the wood crate diorama my daughter and I put together many years back. In the actual story, the Thanksgiving meal takes place outside on a sunny day. We tried capturing this, though it just seemed to lack something - like it was missing the kind of magic the pumpkin patch had in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. So this turned into a different interpretation - more of a late in the day scene. Maybe this is how it would look if the meal got delayed until evening....

Lucy is mostly unseen in this special, maybe everyone needed a break from her - we put her over in the shadow in the corner. 

Three inch tall friends gather around the table for a late in the day Thanksgiving dinner -
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is served! 

What was supposed to look like falling Autumn leaves in this scene looks more like wall paper. And now that I think about it, the scrapbooking paper beneath the table that is supposed to look like grass actually kind of looks like 1970's green shag carpet. Strangely, all of this actually works for circa 1970's interior design when  A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving was created since all these colors are in earth tones....this outdoor scene accidentally became an indoor scene, true to its era! Sometimes things don't turn out exactly how you thought they would, and sometimes it ends up being better that way. 

One piece of toast emerges from a tiny toaster.

Snoopy's feet can be seen on the left, as he was in charge of making toast for the special occasion. On the right is a bowl of popcorn (in this case, broken up mail packaging pieces).

We took these pictures way back in 2018, they were forgotten about and just recently found, just in time for Thanksgiving 2023 which is perfect since this year is the 50th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. The original broadcast was on November 20, 1973. From then until now, this is one of our truest touchstones as a generation.

Years back, my daughter drew jellybeans and pretzels on paper and we taped then onto Calico Critter plates. 

The handles of the wood crate look like windows, the Autumn garland and lights show through on the other side, although sometimes the purple lights look hot pink, though we'll just go with it. 

Woodstock cuddling with Snoopy as they look at the Thanksgiving table

My daughter took this picture to make it look like you are looking inside at the cozy warmth of a table of gathered friends while the frosty purple glow cast down by the moon gives you the chilly feel of an Autumn night.

While I truly miss the collective experience of watching this holiday special at the same time as everyone else did when it came on traditional broadcast television, it's now on Apple TV+ and can be streamed anytime. This means you can watch it at your convenience after you've made toast, popped your popcorn and picked up pretzels and jellybeans from the store. 

Thankful for those who've been reading this blog since it started in 2011. Happy Thanksgiving. 

You can see the diorama we made for the Great Pumpkin here: It's the Great Pumpkin!

                                                                                               (c) 2018, 2023 Chloe Koffas - all rights reserved

The PEANUTS characters and related intellectual property are owned by Peanuts Worldwide, LLC

Schoolhouse Rock 50th Anniversary

In 2015, a Gen X friend came from out of town to visit and we had the chance  to go see Schoolhouse Rock Live. We had so much fun, and back then, we were closer to the 40th anniversary of the initial episodes. It's hard to believe it's been 50 years since the very first episode aired in 1973. 

If you missed the Schoolhouse Rock 50th Anniversary singalong earlier this month on ABC, be sure to go back and watch it on Disney+, or be sure to watch whatever your favorite Schoolhouse Rock song was on YouTube. 

Not to let out any spoilers if you're late to the party like I was, but I'm not sure how you could pack more Gen X retro pop culture into three minutes than when the Muppets themselves cover a Schoolhouse Rock song. 

On another note, the adjectives song sometimes gets stuck in my head and goes on repeat play for hours at a time while I do dishes, laundry, and try to get stuff done. The only thing that makes it stop is if I play some 1990's Nirvana. By design, these songs were supposed to get stuck in your head (how else would we have remembered our multiplication tables?) so just letting you know how to fix the problem if the same thing happens to you. 

In case you were wondering, after all these decades three is STILL a magic number! I love that Blind Melon covered this magical song years back and that Black Eyed Peas played the song for the 50th anniversary show.   

 

My daughter and I have watched many of the original videos together over the years, and we usually enjoy these with root beer or Creamsicle floats... 

she recently asked an important question, "Why is Interplanet Janet okay hanging out on the sun (she says it's a lot of fun) but then she says that the planet Mercury is too hot (the mercury on Mercury was much too high)?

 That's a good question.... 

And a really interesting segment on NPR: 

NPR's Fresh Air Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Schoolhouse Rock

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(c) 2023 Chloe Koffas - all rights reserved 

Remembering Gen Xer Richard Shannon Hoon, lead singer of Blind Melon (1967-1995) 

Thank you, Richard, for singing a magical song from the childhood of Generation X