One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving (aside from all that stuffing!) is watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Charlie Brown cartoons were a huge part of my childhood, and I still love them to this day. See that picture of Snoopy and Woodstock? See how perfectly lovely that photo makes the weather look? A light breeze perhaps, scuttling dead leaves across the ground, barely overcast skies, and a comfortably cool temperature. That is always the weather I wish for in the Fall, and what my sister and I so fondly refer to as “Charlie Brown weather”. Any day with a light breeze, cool temperature, overcast skies and mostly bare trees would qualify.

A little bit about A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving — where were Charlie Brown’s parents? I always wondered this. Thanksgiving Day, a house full of Charlie and his friends, and not an adult in sight. Sure, they’re all supposed to go to his grandmother’s house later for dinner, but I find it hard to believe that his parents wouldn’t be around for the entire day.

Witness this bit of dialog between Charlie Brown and Linus:

“I can’t cook a Thanksgiving dinner. All I can make is cold cereal and maybe toast!”
“That’s right. I’ve seen you make toast. You can’t butter it, but maybe we can help you?”

Enter Snoopy to save the day! He cooks up a mean dinner of enough buttered toast to feed an army, pretzel sticks, jelly beans and popcorn. It’s no wonder that Peppermint Patty was having a meltdown, wondering where the real Thanksgiving dinner was.

Looks tasty, but Snoopy was holding out on everyone. After Charlie Brown and all his friends pile into the station wagon on the way to his grandmother’s house condominium, Snoopy unveils a delicious looking Thanksgiving spread complete with giant roast turkey, lots of veggies, and a giant pumpkin pie for dessert. The rest of the gang was stuck eating that weird pink ice cream-parfait thing after their toast and jellybeans.

So Woodstock is a bird. He ate turkey that Snoopy cooked. Does this seem weird to anyone else? It always seemed strange to me.

Here’s to hoping you have a lovely Thanksgiving filled with family, friends, and lots of good food — no jellybeans allowed!