The Christmas Series: A Charlie Brown Christmas

Shroder: "I think you have a customer."

(Lucy rushes to makeshift doctor's office where Charlie Brown awaits)

Lucy: "May I help you?"

Charlie Brown: "I am in sad shape."

Lucy: "Wait a minute. Before we begin, I must ask that you pay in advance. Five cents please..."

(Charlie Brown drops a nickel in neighboring can)

Lucy: "BOY, what a sound! How I love that old money clink, that beautiful sound of cold, hard cash! That beautiful, beautiful sound! Nickels, nickels, nickels! That beautiful sound of clinking nickels."


lol, I can't help it. Doesn't this sound like our medical community? It could be the heart of the Christmas season; the field of medicine--- improving and extending the lives of people and curing diseases--- boils down to just another business. And I can't say it enough: it's not profitable for hospitals to cure the sick. But hey, let's not go there today...


Lucy: "Alright then, what seems to be the trouble?"

Charlie Brown: "I feel depressed. I know I should be happy, but I'm not..."


We'll hold 'er right there. It's Christmas. And for the first time in a while, I feel a little Christmassy. But it's funny because, simultaneously, I feel a bit... Charlie Brownish.

Anybody that knows me knows that I call this man my White half-brother. No matter what my life may seem to the outside observer, inside, I usually feel like Charlie Brown. 'Tis a bad habit I picked up as a youngin'. I don't know if cats cheat when we draw straws, but I always seem to come up short. But like Chuck, through hardship and patience, things usually pan out.

Well, this time I'm not exactly sure how patience and hardship are going to do me any good. I got a simple request: I want to have a Christmas like the ones I had when I was little. Fair enough?

But here's the thing; it's not possible. Why? I dunno... My Mom's gone. My Grandma's gone. My Grandpa's gone. And, again, my Mom's gone. What's left in the wake? A family that I fear can't be in the same room together without underlying tensions. And don't try to play me, I'm not a kid anymore; I know about things that go unsaid, plus I always knew about them anyway.

I'm angry because--- and to this day I still can't believe this--- most of the nonsense is about things pertaining to money. When I was little, I thought we were all bigger than that. Now, I feel like I'm losing respect for people. My Mom wouldn't be happy with the way things have transpired. And neither would Grandma and Grandpa. Or my cousins Mike and Katrina.

It's the Monday before Christmas. Usually, by this time, the whole family would know what the plan is for Christmas Day. This year, there is no "whole family". Everybody's doing their own thing, and I got the foggiest idea what's goin' on. And the funny thing is, I almost don't want to know what's going on. Not if it's something that's gonna kill my spirit.

Ya know, I prolly won't do this cuz I know my peeps got families, but I've been tossing the idea of grabbing a bunch of my peeps from school and other spots and whooping it up at my house. But, I don't imagine it would be anything like being with the family. And like I said, they got families too; they should enjoy them while they're still together.

I can't remember how I got through last Christmas when I think back. I nearly lost my cool just sitting in church today, thinking 'bout the fact my mom didn't see the kids on program. Last year, I woke up on Christmas morning and I was okay; this year I feel a little worse already, and Christmas is just a week away.

Perhaps I'm exaggerating a bit. The realness is, my family is still fairly intact; even if there is some tension, the love is still there. But growing up and feeling that genuine, unabated love that we used to have for each other and trying to digest the unspoken grumbles that the family has been reduced to...

We used to go to my Grandma and Grandpa's house and just to be together. Now people are bickering about who gets what portion of the doggone house. Then there's our house--- me and my sister's, that is--- but I guess that would be too awkward to have Christmas at "the babies'" house. And to have it at our house without the smell of my Mom's macaroni and cheese and barbequed franks...

It's amazing how all this is really sinking in now instead of last year right after it all happened.

Any way you slice this hurts for me. No matter who's house I go to, no matter gifts or no gifts, tree or no tree, family or no family. I shoulda gone to Mexico with my church or sumn (yeah, they went to Mexico for Christmas. wild huh?)

But take a step back... it's just one day. Amazing isn't it? I'm here sweating what's gonna happen for 24 hours, several hours of which I'm gonna be asleep anyway. The one thing I can depend on in all this... the Charlie Brown Christmas Special will still rock. Which means, I know at least one person will know what it is to be down in the dumps on Christmas Day. I mean, I have a hard enough time not crying in church just listening to the choir sing; now I get to enjoy myself on Christmas Eve, then come right back to the church in the morning and enjoy myself again.

And no, don't hand me that, "You need involvement; you need to be a part of some real Christmas project!"


I said me and Charlie Brown are half-brothers, not twins... B-(