The 25 Baubles of Pop Culture! Advent 2022 Day 24

It's Christmas Eve. Thus I think it's only fitting that I am devoting today's Advent to the world of Peanuts. Charles Schulz' Peanuts is a pop culture franchise that has the rare distinction of being something that my Grandmama, Grandmother and Mom had at least 1 ornament of which on their trees. 

My Grandmama had this satin ball ornament from Hallmark. It's dated 1979 and is for a grandson. That was me! I still own this ornament and treasure it very much. My Grandmother loved to paint wooden ornaments and she had at least 2 of the ornaments displayed here. She had ornaments of both Snoopy and Woodstock in stockings. I think she also had one of Snoopy sitting on his doghouse. But I don't see that ornament. Maybe I imagined it. As for my Mom, I remember this PVC ornament of Snoopy using his food dish as a sled hanging from our tree. It's something we picked up in the late 80s or early 90s. I think it came included with a specially marked box of Whitman's chocolates.

Then we've got an ornament that I vaguely recall somebody in my family owning. I just can't put my finger on who. It's this late 1970s rubber ornament of Linus and Snoopy. I seem to recall Linus' hair being fuzzy. And the fact that Linus is sitting on Snoopy when usually it's the beagle giving the youngster fits as Snoopy really wants that blanket is just so hysterical to me.

Looking at ornaments not owned by my family, first up is this adorable 3-D ornament depicting the final scene of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Watching A Charlie Brown Christmas had up until this year been an annual tradition in my family. But Tim Cook and Apple decided to become Scrooges and made it to where you can only watch the special on AppleTV. Supposedly tonight and tomorrow, families can watch the show for free. But I haven't a clue how to do that and I really don't feel like creating an account with AppleTV and having to share my personal information. So the next best thing will be this ornament I found on Pintrest, I guess.

Fun Fact- though they are depicted in this ornament, Franklin, Marcy and Peppermint Patty were not in the holiday special as none of them had been created by Charles Schulz just yet.

Another annual holiday tradition is getting to hear 1967's Snoopy's Christmas by The Royal Guardsmen. This holiday follow up to Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron is just such a fun story mixed into a catchy little ditty. Thankfully, Apple doesn't own the rights to this song and I got to hear it the other day in my car. The song is based on Snoopy's pretend play that he's a World War I flying ace in the comic strip. In honor of all this, I share this 2016 ornament that technically isn't Christmas. Instead, it's a Hallmark Halloween ornament as this scene is based on the 1966 Peanuts special It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Hey, nothing says you can't hang Halloween stuff on your Christmas tree...

I wanna go back to looking at a vintage Peanuts ornament for a moment. When I was looking for that Grandson ornament, I ran across several globe ornaments from Hallmark's early days at producing tree decorations. My favorite is this early 1980s globe made of glass. It shows Snoopy acting as Santa with Woodstock and several of his bird friends leading the sleigh over Charlie Brown's neighborhood.

I'm also a big fan of this late 90s ornament. I just can't determine who the manufacturer is. It depicts Charlie Brown going to Lucy for gift ideas instead of psychiatric help for the price of 1 nickel. You can be sure that all the gift ideas Lucy is giving Charlie Brown are all things she wants!

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On the craft made front, my favorite is this ceramic ornament of Snoopy, Woodstock and Charlie Brown in festive attire. I wonder if the Christmas tree behind them is that magical fir from the holiday special. 

And now for the DIY ornament. For this one, you will need yellow paint, a black puffy paint pen, a wooden disc ornament and some type of ribbon. First up, paint the disc yellow. When it dries, use the puffy paint pen and create a zig-zag pattern like on Charlie Brown's shirt. Unlike in the image above, I recommend making the zig-zag a little bit more thicker but don't be afraid to be a little sloppy as that was Schulz's style. When the black paint is dry, tie a ribbon loop through the hole of the ornament and hang on your tree to give it a touch of Peanuts class!

Though my wife is Jewish by birth, it's a tradition for her to recite the account of the first Noel from the book of Luke. It's the very same scripture that Linus recounts when he tells Charlie Brown what is the true meaning of Christmas. So, despite the fact that Apple won't let me share the who holiday special with all of you, here's a clip, perhaps the shows' most important clip, for you to enjoy on this Christmas Eve.

Enjoy!