I received this in an e-mail and thought many of you who grew up on Peanuts would enjoy it. It is a message written by Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family:

Dear Friends:

I was only four years old on the night of Thursday, December 9, 1965 (45 years ago!), but to this day, I can tell you where I was and what I was doing--watching the debut of A Charlie Brown Christmas^® on CBS^® in our southern California home.

It was an instant hit, much to the surprise of network executives, but surely not to me. (I assumed the whole world was watching!) Creator Charles Schulz argued with the bosses at CBS^® over a host of issues. At the time of its creation, studio personnel thought it was too religious (Linus quotes Luke 2:8-14) and too amateur (all the voices were of kids, not professional actors). They also believed the theme music was too contemporary for kids' tastes (Vince Guaraldi's jazz soundtrack is now a classic and instantly recognizable by all) an d that the lack of a laugh track left the production feeling flat and too contemplative, but in an overly simplistic kind of way.

Isn't it interesting that all the things we like about it are the very things Hollywood didn't?