Thanksgiving is a holiday celebrated by so many around the United States, including one of my favorite cartoon characters, Charlie Brown. “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” is a sweet movie about how Charlie Brown hosted a last minute Thanksgiving celebration with his closest friends, after Peppermint Patty essentially invited herself over to Charlie Brown’s house for Thanksgiving. Snoopy and Woodstock prepared a unique menu for the guests, and everyone enjoyed each other’s company. While this was a rather last minute and atypical way to celebrate the Holiday, it was still special nonetheless. Here are some ways that you can channel your inner “Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” if you plan to celebrate this year.
- Remember “the more the merrier” is absolutely true. Thanksgiving is a holiday where we should be thankful for everyone and everything that positively impacts our lives. Usually our Thanksgiving celebrations are community focused, so we should always make sure that everyone is included. Even though Charlie Brown originally had his own plans to visit his grandparents for Thanksgiving, he immediately made a new plan so that Peppermint Patty would have somewhere to go on Thanksgiving, and then he invited more friends as well.
- It doesn’t have to be super fancy! Charlie Brown’s beloved dog Snoopy, along with his friend Woodstock, set the table with a bedsheet, mismatched plates and chairs, and used a ping-pong table as the table. He also prepared a “girl dinner” esque meal, of buttered toast, popcorn, pretzel sticks, jelly beans, and strawberry ice cream sundaes. While this was far from fancy, everyone still had fun! Although Peppermint Patty was a bit ungrateful and confused by this strange menu at first, she then realized that the holiday is about giving and being grateful for what you do have, and she was appreciative of the sentiment.
- As Marcy says “just be thankful for being together”. While the holidays can bring so much stress, remember that at its core, Thanksgiving is about being grateful for everything and anyone that has helped you in some way. Of course it is ideal to have that “perfect meal” or the “perfect decorations”, but at the end of the day, be grateful for the company you are surrounded with, and be present in the moment.
Now, these are just three that people often forget about because of how focused everyone is on having the perfect Thanksgiving celebration. As we saw within the sweetest and most adorable movie “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving”, this celebration was put together in a few hours because everyone worked together, and it totally paid off! I will be the first to admit that the overall Holiday season can be super stressful, and Thanksgiving is just the start of it. Remember that if Charlie Brown can do this you can too! Nothing needs to be super fancy or technical unless you want it to be. Thanksgiving is truly about friends and family, so please most importantly, try to take the time to appreciate their company, even if the turkey is dry, and your family is arguing about politics the whole time. Be festive, spread joy and thankful energy, and include those who may not have someone to spend the holiday with, and you will make Charlie Brown very happy this Thanksgiving!