My sister-in-law brought home a DVD copy of the Peanuts Christmas special for me. This is wonderful! 🥰 And it's going to be really emotional.
I have always hated the high commercialization and social obligations of Christmas. The part where Charlie Brown cries out for anyone to tell him what Christmas is all about, and then Linus standing alone on the stage and telling him...
That's when I found my "Christmas spirit" every year.
It didn't even matter that it doesn't match to my devotional and spiritual practices. In that moment, that was never the point for me.
And one year, in my 30s, my dad gave me a Christmas card with Linus on the stage on it. When I opened it, it played a recording of Linus explaining what Christmas is all about.
I hugged my dad like I was a little kid again! I said, "That's my favorite part!"
And he laughed and said, "I know. That's why I bought it for you."
My dad adopted me. I asked him one time if he loved my sister more because she's "really his".
He said, "You're really mine, too. I have the papers from the lawyer to prove it."
And then he told me what nobody had ever told me before. He made being allowed to adopt me a condition of my mom accepting his proposal. He wanted both of us.
I really am his child.
My last Christmas with my dad was in 2014. Every year, I want Linus to tell me again what Christmas is all about. Because I finally understand why the part of the story I always wished there was more of is how Joseph loved and raised a child he wasn't part of creating.
Dad was the only one who knew why I cried and found my love of the holidays when Linus stood on that stage.
@weirdfizz Thank you for sharing this. Charles Schulz was one of the few christians I have ever truly enjoyed the works of, and even though I am a non-deist and do not enjoy religion, something about Linus' speech, a direct biblical quote (Sparky had lots of those), made my throat tighten up every time. To this day, Peanuts remains the only christian comic strip I've enjoyed.
@XaoslordErie I think he lived it, not preached it. The Christians I get along with best are the ones who treat everyone like we are deserving of love and respect. Charles Schulz showed us all of the Peanuts mattered and didn't give us updates of which ones went to church.
@weirdfizz And therein lies the difference. Sparky was never preachy. He made his points very well without having to resort to that kind of thing and he was a pretty inclusive guy. He walked the walk, unlike so many today who proclaim themselves such, but act nothing like it.