Have you ever had the experience of not knowing anything about something, and then within a short period of time you are hearing about it everywhere? This happened to me this last week concerning the movie “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Whenever this sort of thing happens to me, I figure I should take notice, because maybe it’s God trying to get something through my thick head. The first encounter I had was through a newsletter I received from the Christian health share program I’m a member with. The second encounter came through a short reading I read in the free devotional magazine I use. And the third encounter came over the radio as I listened to a pastor on my way to church this morning.

The reason I knew very little about “A Charlie Brown Christmas” before this is because I have never watched it. And now, that I know what I know, I can’t believe I haven’t. The first time it aired was on December 9, 1965. I would have been 11 years old and you would think I would have liked a little cartoon about Christmas. I probably would have, except that it aired on CBS and in the remote area of Nebraska where I grew up – we only got one channel and it was not CBS. I doubt that I would have watched it anyway, because it aired at the same time as Bonanza, which was a weekly tradition in our house. As it turns out, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was the second most watched TV show that evening – second only to Bonanza. Forty five- forty nine percent of households (15 million homes) across the U.S. were tuned into CBS.

The making of the movie was done quickly after Coke-a-Cola called CBS and asked if they had a Christmas movie in the makings, because they wanted to sponsor it. CBS saw this as a good opportunity for them, and Coke-a-Cola was assured by CBS that there would be a Christmas movie for them to sponsor. Hurriedly, CBS contacted Charles Schulz and asked him to write a movie with his Peanut characters. By this time the Peanuts comic strip had become a world wide phenomenon.

CBS and Coke-a-Cola loved everything about the movie, except for when Linus reads the Christmas story from Luke  – and no less – out of the King James Version. They told Charles Schulz he would have to do away with this scene. “It’s too much religion,” they said. Mr. Schulz stood his ground and said “if we don’t tell them, who will?” He also told them if he couldn’t tell the Christmas story, they couldn’t use his characters. Because they were on a timeline and the movie had already been publicized in the TV guides, they had to go on with it. The TV producers were fully expecting it to be a disaster.

Now we know the rest of the story. On top of all the viewers that night, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” earned an Emmy and a Peabody Award.  As Charles Schulz accepted the Emmy he said, “Charlie Brown never wins anything, so thank-you very much.” And now for 50 years, the movie has been aired every year – usually twice a season. It has become a holiday tradition in many homes.

After familiarizing myself with everything I could find on the Internet about “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, I chastised myself that I had turned the TV off the evening I saw it coming on. I had chopped it up to a silly little animation program for children, and obviously, I had done this same thing for the last 50 years.

It struck me that maybe I had not missed the second showing of it. After some googling, I was pleased to find out that it will be shown again on Christmas Eve on ABC. It’s about time to start a new tradition, don’t you think?

 

 

 

This morning I attended a small church where they were performing their annual Christmas program recounting  the Christmas story. I’m quite sure every child in the church had a part – there’s always room for one more angel or one more shepherd. It brought back a lot of memories. There are memories of when I was one of those children ,wearing of course, an angel costume.(Well, I think so…that was a long time ago.) Then their were memories of my two boys playing their parts as shepherds and wise men.

Today, I had no reason to be nervous – I wasn’t performing and didn’t know anyone that was. In fact, I was just visiting this church and knew no one. It was the first time I had gone to a Christmas church program and didn’t know a single person on stage. This put me in a unique position. My eyes weren’t focused on any one person. I had no reason to care if the wiseman’s crown was crooked, or if the angel was holding the hem of her white gown above her head, or if the shepherd boy was poking his shepherd friend in hopes of making him squeal, or if Joseph was sticking his tongue out at Mary. Knowing no one was delightful!

I had time to observe the observers as well. All those children in the front, had parents in the pews. Well, not so much in the pews – most were up and out of their seats with their cameras pointed to their special actors on stage. I noticed that many of the fathers were assigned this duty while the mothers were trying to get their child’s attention with various hand signals. I’m sure it is just our human nature to want our children to be perfect little angels while they are up on stage. Wouldn’t it be boring if they really were? The best part of Christmas programs are when we are reminded through these little children that none of us are perfect. And I enjoy being reminded that we don’t have to be perfect because Jesus took all our sins to the cross with Him. This is a season to spread hope to those that might not have much hope. I challenge you to pick out someone every day that looks like they could use a little hope and give them a good dose of it.  God created each one of us and He loves each one of us as if we were the only one to love. Now, that’s a message everyone would love to hear.

 

This last weekend I traveled back to the north central part of Nebraska where I grew up. The family ranch is located approximately 30 miles south of Ainsworth on the Calamus River. I lived here in the late 60’s and early 70’s, during my junior high and high school years. Since that time I have been back for many visits. The home ranch is still owned by my mother and managed by my sister and brother-in-law.

I want to tell you about the old country schools of Nebraska, and specifically about the one I attended. First, a little history. In  1918 there were 6638 one room school houses in rural Nebraska. With the coming of improved roads and declining rural populations,  the country schools throughout the United States began to close. By 1959, there were 2812 of these country schools left in Nebraska. By the end of the 20th Century, one room schools across the U.S. had nearly vanished. There were only 840 left in the entire country in 1984 and Nebraska claimed 45% of these or 385 schools. And since that time those have closed as well. The country school is now a thing of the past.

The country school I attended was actually one of the more modernized schools of that time. We had indoor plumbing with two bathrooms – one for the girls and one for the boys. If I remember correctly, the sink sat between the two. We  had the large room where the desks sat, but we also had a smaller room where there were multiple chairs that sat around a table. We only had one teacher, but she often used this smaller room to teach a class to the younger children, while the older children were supposedly studying in the larger room. For the most part, I believe that is what happened, although I also remember a few spit wads flying by on occasion or a few notes being passed from student to student. After all, it wasn’t a school for angels. I started 6th grade at the Raven School and we had 12 students, ranging from first grade to eighth grade. By the time I graduated from the eighth grade, we had eight students in the school and the eighth grade class made up half of those, helped out by a set of twins. The schoolhouse was close enough to one family that those children walked to school every day. My family lived the farthest and Dad would take me the ten miles each morning, and each afternoon my brother would pick me up on his way home from the High School in town.

For those of us that attended these schools and now see them abandoned and physically decaying across the grasslands, it causes  a twinge of sadness. So many events were centered around the school in those days and a lot of fond memories have been collected. Perhaps the Christmas programs were the most noted events, filling the schoolhouse with standing room only. Every child had “a piece” to say – a short poem that they had hopefully memorized. Plays were performed that were also memorized, and songs were sung. The students were dressed in their finest clothes. Santa always showed up to pass out candy at the end of the program, and neighbors visited long after the teacher was ready to turn out the lights.

On my trip back this last weekend, I  learned that the fate of the Raven School is better than most. I was delighted to hear that someone was making this building into a home. I couldn’t help driving up the muddy lane to see for myself. Sure enough, it is happening. New windows, new doors, a second floor, and a new roof have been installed. What fun it will be to watch the progression of it. You might ask who would take on this major project? It’s not hard to figure out. Of course – a former student of Raven School with a few fond memories.

 I see these well seasoned ladies playing hopscotch and cheering each other on, and realize I don’t want to ever grow up. Our golden years will be more fun if we don’t.

I can remember, fifty years ago, rushing out the school door at recess time. We packed a lot of hopscotch into 15 minutes. Or maybe it was Annie, Annie I Over, or 23 Skido0, or Dare Base, or Pump Pump Pullaway, or Steal Sticks. During the lunch hour, we could eat fast and have at least 30 minutes to continue a game we didn’t finish at recess. As much discussion was given around the supper table  to what happened during recess  that day as to what happened in the school room.  We not only got a lot of exercise, we also learned to play well with others.

It saddens me not to see kids out playing these games like we did. I wonder how many second and third graders would even recognize the names of the games in the previous paragraph.

I think back to my graduating class in 1972. There were 70 some in the class, and very few were overweight. Most of us leaned toward the thin side. Now, as I sit on the bench at Wal-Mart and people gaze, it’s not only overweight kids that walk by  – many are obese.

To be considered obese, a child’s body mass index or BMI percentile must be greater than 95%. A child is overweight if his BMI is more than 85% but less than 95%. It is estimated that 17% of children ages two through nineteen are obese.

A scientist with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention predicts that one in three children born in 2000, will become diabetic unless our habits change – meaning we need to eat wiser and exercise more.

Those are my thoughts for this week. Just what you wanted to hear after a big Thanksgiving meal, right? Well, do what I’m doing – consider putting a Ping-Pong table in the basement instead of a large screen TV. I’m not sure I’ve got my thin husband on board though or maybe he’s just scared I’ll beat him at Ping-Pong or maybe he’s grown up.

When we reflect back to the first Thanksgiving Day -we usually think of that autumn day in 1621 after the Pilgrims harvested their first season of crops here in the New World. This celebration lasted for three days. It is recorded that there were 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims in attendance. Thanksgiving celebrations after this were sporadic for many years. In 1789, George Washington called for a celebration of Thanksgiving. As a nation, the people celebrated and gave thanks for the blessings they had received that year. But, it wasn’t until 1863 that it was proclaimed a national holiday. This was during the time of the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln told the people of the United States to “give thanks and praise to the beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”

Thanksgiving has become a time of family gatherings for many people, so much so, that those that aren’t able to spend the holiday with family often feel let down. We look around us and it seems that everyone else is either traveling to a Thanksgiving meal or hosting one in their own home. For those of us that aren’t able to be with family this Thanksgiving, we can still celebrate the reason Abraham Lincoln made it a national holiday. We can give thanks and praise to our Father who dwells in the Heavens. We can use the day as a special time to reconnect with our Father. We can pray for others that are missing their families on Thanksgiving. We can pray for those in the military overseas that are defending our freedoms. We can pray for those people in the United States that don’t have the financial means to be with family. We can pray for ourselves and ask God to help us have a thankful heart.

There are many of us that won’t be with our loved ones, but we can still make the day a special day. It’s a day of Thanksgiving – whether with family or not. Enjoy and give thanks!