kattitudes

I feel like a Christmas cartoon. And this certainly fits the bill.

A 1987 special, it makes those of us from the 80s glow with remembered Christmas joys. If you were not there in the 80s, you will really enjoy the schmaltz. It is definitely a feel good, especially without the emphasis on buying!

The Snowman is one of my absolute favorite Christmas movies, done by Raymond Briggs. It is beautiful. Coupled with his other Christmas movie about Santa’s vacation (entitled Father Christmas which, while I own, I must transfer online and, in typical fashion, am procrastinating reaching the conclusion of said job), the two movies together constitute a double-header of my favorite quiet-time Christmas anticipation.

Have I mentioned lately how much I miss living in England? Watching this just brings it all back. I am going back one day. To stay.

Of course, I say that now, but when I was there, I was homesick for the South. I guess that is what you get for moving so much as a kid. Never satisfied settling down. But still, I would like to go back to England for a substantial amount of time.

If YouTube tells you that the movie is not available, I have found that if you reload the page, they suddenly become available. Amazing how that works.

It is rather a pain to watch it this way, but you can thank YouTube, as they have created a situation where you can only upload a maximum ten (10) minutes worth of video at a time now. Ridiculous. At least there are no 1980s television commercials buried in the middle of this version.

The first ten minutes, so start here:

then the second ten minutes:

then the final ten minutes:

Not the best of qualities in terms of video to internet, but finding this particular story was nigh on to impossible. General consensus seems to be that this is pretty much the least popular of the great Shultz trinity. No one even makes mention of the Valentine, Easter or camp specials anymore. I guess they do not officially exist in the lexicon.

Someone finally posted their copy recorded in the early 80s, television commercials and all. Now that is a hoot. Talk about a flash from the past. Still, quality is not all there, but in terms of video like this, you take what you can get and smile happily.

Regardless of the quality of the video, it is the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special, shown in 1973. If you are of a certain age range, watching this around Thanksgiving time was as much a part of the Thanksgiving dinner celebration as putting black pitted olives on all your fingers and waving at everyone around the table until Mom told you to quit playing with your food and take them off your fingers.

It is so interesting to me to re-examine my reactions to these little specials now that I have passed into the age of the “wah wah wah wah wah” mush mouth speaking adults portrayed in Charlie Brown specials. After Charles Shultz passed on, biographies shed a little light on the personal demons that haunted him through his life.

As an adult, I have so much more history behind me than I did in 1973. Now I can see his experiences reflected in these specials. Watching them fascinates me. It gives a whole new meaning to a quaint enjoyable childhood delight.

It must be done. One) it is a cartoon, two) it is from the 70’s (so cheesetastic) and three) it is a Christmas cartoon. So funny!

I’ve already posted this once, but it’s Halloween.

Isn’t it the law that you have to see it today?

This is such a pretty cartoon. A little on the old side. Definitely something the older amongst us could enjoy. Watch it whilst you are putting together your Christmas list.

It’s only about eight minutes long anyway, so it is a wonderful “keep the kids entertained for a few minutes” short whilst you run off to hide your finished handiwork, if you know what I mean.

And I know it seems so early, but truth of the matter is that there are less than ten short weeks to Christmas, which means that if you want to get presents made before then, you need to be well on your way. I hope you are already.

I. DID. IT.

I cannot believe I made it, but I waited until October to post this.

Sure, October first at midnight, but the devil is in the details because it is October! I have been sitting on this since AUGUST. Oh, it has been taunting me from my drafts area, just waving and grinning. Telling me to go ahead. Everyone wants to watch Charlie Brown.

Oh, I wanted to wait until October to post it. I tried and tried for the whole delayed gratification thing.

I have to tell you - delayed gratification? Yeah. It isn’t all it is blown up to be.

Now, there are some situations where delayed gratification is everything is should be. Christmas morning. Adult situations. But Charlie Brown movies?

I have been playing this so often that I have the text memorized now. Good grief, it is barely close to Halloween and I am already ready to stop watching this. There must be something wrong with me.

Remember back in the day when you would watch this, with commercial breaks brought to you by Dolly Madison snack cakes? Do they even make Dolly Madison snack cakes anymore? Oh, who cares. And you know why? Because….

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Since we have a finger puppet nativity set up today, I am going to go ahead and jump the gun and finish posting these movies (most of the others have been posted. Not all, but most).

If you decide you want to make more characters for your nativity finger puppet set, this movie will not only give you the inspiration, but give you something wonderful to watch whilst you make the puppets.

And also, it’s Rankin Bass. Rankin Bass, people. Rankin Bass. These are the quintessential Christmas movies. I would say it doesn’t get better than this, but there is another in my pocket. Actually a few more that I’m saving.

But still. Rankin Bass.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love these things? Schoolhouse Rock just makes my day. I have been singing them so much since finding them online that my Mister has actually asked me (begged, more accurately) to please, please just please use the headphones and listen instead.

Humph. He obviously isn’t a connoisseur.