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Last Oct. 31, I finally succeeded in convincing the two of our three grownup kids who were around and my husband to sit down with me and watch “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” — just for old times’ sake. If our eldest had been here, instead of working on his Ph.D. in New York, I’m sure he would have joined us as well.
I’ve loved all of the “Peanuts” holiday specials since I was a child. At that time, a person could only watch each special once per year, during the coinciding holiday and on a television set with no remote control. Yes, we had to get up off the couch, or floor, and manually change the channel and volume by turning knobs on the television set. And we were considered lucky if we were able to watch it in color.
Back to the present: We all gathered in on comfy sofas, each with his or her own stash from the Halloween candy bowl, and inserted the DVD to watch this special on our HD flat-screen television with three remote controls.
Anticipating the usual “this is boring” comment from the kids and an occasional snore from my husband, I was pleasantly surprised — no, I was pleasantly shocked — to find that not only did they enjoy the special, their guffaws and insightful comments made this viewing the most fun I’ve ever experienced.
Charles Schulz was a genius. He was able to create a timeless animated story with the potential to connect with each individual across generations. During the opening scene when the “Peanuts” gang were running toward the pumpkin patch in their costumes, terrified by the spooky sounds and flying ghosts and goblins, my 24-year-old daughter quipped, “OK, that was weird. Were they all high?”
Fast forward to the scene where Lucy is trying to talk Charlie Brown into kicking the football. She’s promising this year will be different and she will not pull the football out from under him. When he finally consents, after being provided a written document testifying to the promise of her statement, he agrees to the task, only to find the football swooped away at the last second.
Poor Charlie Brown — didn’t he see the document wasn’t notarized? My family was in stitches.
And how many of us have given up wonderful opportunities on account of “love?” Swoop into the pumpkin patch to find the kids making fun of Linus and Sally choosing to wait there for the Great Pumpkin instead of trick-or-treating and attending Violet’s Halloween party. My daughter was so proud of Sally, “standing up for her man” in front of everyone, even though he got the deserved third degree once the crowd left.
During the Halloween party scene, you wouldn’t believe the looks that came my way when Lucy became indignant because Snoopy’s lips touched hers while bobbing for apples.
My fear of kissing our dogs abruptly disappeared years ago, when an emergency doctor told us, while successfully removing a piece of human tooth out of our eldest son’s forehead as a result of a waterslide accident, that a dog’s bite is actually cleaner than a human bite. Apparently, even now, the kids have not bought into this statement — they were completely supportive of Lucy’s dramatic display of disgust.
And I truly appreciated Linus’ faith, however misguided, and his continued hope that the Great Pumpkin wouldn’t let him down. This child-like faith is most likely what keeps us going in life, and it’s probably what finally convinced my husband and kids to watch this special with me.
Maybe, like Linus, they hoped and clung to their own child-like faith it would be fun. And this time Linus and the Great Pumpkin didn’t let them down. It was, well, great. We all enjoyed watching, each of us with a new and different perspective.
Thank you, Mr. Schulz, and thank you, Linus.
Editor’s note: Cindy Deagen has lived in Pleasanton for 17 years and currently enjoys working as a private tutor and helping individuals with dyslexia or other challenges with written language, whom she says inspire her daily.
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