Category: Uncategorized

This is what I learned from watching It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown way too often.

1. A young child can stay out all night alone, with no adult supervision, as long as it’s on Halloween night, in a pumpkin patch, waiting for someone to meet them…

2. Jumping into a pile of leaves with a wet sucker is a bad idea. Tried it once, turns out, very bad idea.

3. Charlie Brown should have gotten some candy at Halloween. I wanted to give him some of mine, what about you?

4. Pigpen, the child who walks around in a cloud of dirt is more likable than Charlie Brown.

5. If someone moves a football each time you go to kick it, Good Grief, stop believing them, it’s a theme. Same goes for many situations.

6. A person can have moral standards. Sally agrees to sit in the pumpkin patch with Linus, but threatens to slug him if he even tries to hold her hand.

7. Lucy actually cares about her little brother, Linus (even more than their parents). She goes and gets him from the pumpkin patch at 4am and sweetly puts him to bed. She gets him extra candy while trick or treating. It’s a whole other side of Lucy.

8. Charlie Brown is a hopeless optimist. No matter how people in his ‘community’ ignore, hurt, or bully him, he keeps believing and keeps trying. Or maybe he just has low self-esteem.

9.  Dogs like to dress up as World War I Flying Aces for Halloween and fly around on their Sopwith Camels aka dog houses fighting the Red Baron. Who knew?

10. A signed contract doesn’t always mean what you think it means, there could be a loopholes.

11. It’s ok to give a child rocks for Halloween instead of candy. I’ve never tested this one.

12. Schroeder was a talented little dude, I always hoped he’s make it big until I realized he was just a cartoon, then I still hoped he’s make it big.

13. Linus wrote to The Great Pumpkin saying everyone tells him TGP is a fake, but he believes in him. He adds if TGP is a fake he doesn’t want to know. Is this denial or trying to hold onto his beliefs? People do it all the time, with politicians, God, family members, spouses, etc. Even if we know something is not true or wrong, we often don’t want to know.

I guess that’s why we love the sweetness and gentleness of things like Snoopy cartoons. We remember fondly those times when things were simple, when you could believe, trust, and hope. Life has become complicated. Peanuts is simple fun.

Happy Halloween!