It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

Timeless Classic...

The series of Charlie Brown holiday movies by Charles Shultz are some of my all time favorites. I enjoy the sweetness, humor, and classic one-liners as an adult even more than I did as a child. Charles Shultz teaches and entertains in a wonderful format with such unforgetable and lovable characters.

In days before these letters were ever clumped together...VCR, DVR, VHS, CD, DVD, TIVO,etc.,

I remember the anticipation of waiting for certain movies to be broadcast as Television Specials....once per year. I would mark the calendar and make it a point to be in front of the TV for those annual specials. The Charlie Brown Halloween, Christmas, Valentine, and Easter Movie Specials were some of my favorites. Now I own the complete collection of The Charlie Brown and Peanuts Specials. They are available any time I want to sit down and enjoy them.

Gone are the days when our society waits for much or children could even comprehend only watching their favorite movie ONE time per year VS Ten times per day. We are an instant gratification, "I Want It Now" Culture. In the American Culture, we are such media overload, children are rarely tuned all the way in to a movie or TV program. It becomes secondary background noise, not something to anticipate and savor.

Another Television Movie special I looked forward to with great anticipation was The Wizard of Oz. This special was usually broadcast on Sunday evening and I would hold my breath that we would be out of Church (that was when we went to Sacrament Meeting in the late afternoon) in time to be home for viewing the entire movie....if I missed it... I had to wait an entire year before it played again.

When I was very young, it was a huge treat to go to my Grandma Hoglund's house and view The Wizard of Oz on her nice big TV- we probably did not have a TV of our own, or one that worked or got most of the channels during some of those early days. The first time I saw The Wizard of Oz on a Color TV was at my Grandma's house. I can still remember hiding behind my Grandpa's easy chair when the flying monkeys came on. I was terrified of those monkeys until my teen age years.The flying monkeys were worse than any lions, tigers, and bears....oh my!!!!

What are some of your favorite childhood movies?