Merry Christmas Charlie Brown !

Here's a picture of what currently resides on top of the TV in our family room. Back in 1995, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of "A Charlie Brown Christmas", Hallmark released a limited quantity of these Peanuts Christmas ornaments. A different ornament became available each week for 4 weeks leading up to Christmas. I'm a huge Peanuts fan from way back - so my Mom figured (correctly) that these would make a great gift for me.

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" was on ABC last night and - just like every December preceding this one - I watched it from start to finish. I've got it on DVD, but there's something special about watching it when it's on TV, you know? If you missed it last night, mark down December 16th on your calendar because that's the next time you can catch it on ABC. "A Charlie Brown Christmas" delivers the true message of Christmas - something that most "Christmas" TV specials do not. Not to say that guys like Rudolph and Frosty don't have their place - because they certainly do...but the message in "Charlie Brown" makes that TV special...well...special! It's certainly got its funny moments too. I love when Charlie Brown is introduced to the gang as the director of the Christmas play and he's greeted with cheers from everyone...except we can hear one voice booing him...SNOOPY! Funny stuff.

It's been 40 years since "A Charlie Brown Christmas" first hit the air. To commemorate, there's a brand new music CD out with cover versions of all the songs in the special. From what I've heard of the songs on the commercial, it sounds good. But for me - you gotta have the original soundtrack! Vince Guaraldi provided the music not only for this "Charlie Brown" special, but also for the Thanksgiving and Easter ones. You can find the "A Charlie Brown Christmas" soundtrack on CD in pretty much anywhere the sell CDs. I also recommend "Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits" which contains music from ALL the Peanuts holiday specials.

ALL that being said--there are two OTHER holiday TV specials like I like just as much as "A Charlie Brown Christmas"! - But that's a blog for another day!

More snow in the WAYV Al Roker forecast for Thursday night & Friday morning. We'll keep you posted!