Two More

When Layden and I were young children we would wait impatiently for the Christmas specials to air on TV. At the time there was no such thing as a DVD or a video tape, and certainly no streaming. Most of the country had 3 television channels: ABC, CBS, and NBC, and usually a local carrier for a Public Broadcasting station. Christmas specials aired once a year on one channel, and if you missed it, well – you would just have to wait til next year. Two of our very favorite Christmas specials were A Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Rudolph first aired on December 6th, 1964 on NBC. It was made using Animagic, which at the time was a complex and sophisticated process of stop-motion animation. The filming was done with puppets and shot frame by frame, moving the puppets just slightly each frame to create the illusion of movement. The special took 18 months to complete. The show was an immediate success and has become a holiday classic. Songs from the show, such as Holly Jolly Christmas, have become part of the Christmas repertoire.

The Charlie Brown special first aired on CBS December 9th, 1965. This whimsical yet serious show has become a beloved Christmas classic. In this story, Charlie Brown has his usual string of challenges and failures, but the story is redeemed when he learns what Christmas is all about. Made using traditional cartoon animation with a jazz soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi, it was a low-cost production, completed in about 6 months. The show was initially rejected by CBS who worried it would take away from their regular viewing audience. However, the Coca-Cola company, who commissioned the show because they wanted a family-friendly Christmas special, also sponsored the show and persuaded CBS to take a gamble. It was an instant success and by 1968 was being aired internationally.

These two ornaments remind us of the anticipation we felt during the Christmas season, which certainly seemed much longer when we were children than it does now.