For a kid growing up in the 1960s, Peanuts, inked by Charles Schultz, was a daily ritual in the funny papers. (My Mama still laughs at the Classic Peanuts in every weekday newspaper.) My addiction to All Things Peanuts was complete: Emulating Lucy van Pelt, I even produced a 5-cent classroom newspaper, and had a sign on the side of my desk saying “The Editor Is [Real] In,” until my 5th grade teacher, Mrs Marian Peterson, put a stop to it.
My devotion was made more complete when Schultz collaborated with Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson on the Peanuts Christmas special. There’s a section in An Abecedarium of Ornaments that talks about the power of that program (and its more technicolor peer, The Grinch That Stole Christmas) to color what I consider “real” Christmas spirit.
For me, and for Timothy, it had little to do with Linus reciting the famous lines from Luke and a LOT to do with Vince Guaraldi’s brilliant score that hovers somewhere between carol and jazz.
Until today, reading the New York Times obituary for Lee Mendelson, who passed away on Christmas Day 2019, I had no idea where the lyrics for Christmas Time Is Here came from… Maybe I thought Charles Schultz had written it, or perhaps it was an angelic gift like “Jingle Bells.” But now I know, I am happy to give full credit where it is due. And I hope Lee is throwing snowballs with Sparky Schultz and Vince in some celestial winter wonderland.