At the beginning of A Charlie Brown Christmas, the 1965 Peanuts Christmas movie, the story’s anti-hero, Charlie Brown, expresses sentiments with which many of us can identify at this time of year: “Christmas is coming, but I’m not happy. I don’t feel the way I’m supposed to feel … I always end up feeling depressed.”
Charles Schulz understood the uncomfortable truths of human nature like few other cartoonists. This is part of why A Charlie Brown Christmas so effectively conveys the double-sidedness of the holiday season.