A Charlie Brown Christmas

I had a couple of memories today: One of them was from Christmastime when I was in first grade, the other was from summertime, a year or two later, maybe three.

But I will get to those in a minute. Or at least the Christmas memory; I will write about the other one on another day.

: )

Every now and then, I have this debate with myself: Which Peanuts character am I most like?

My former co-worker, Joe Anne, used to tell me I am just like Lucy.

“But Lucy is crabby,” I would complain to Joesie. “Do you think I’m crabby?”

“No, you’re not crabby,” she would say. “You just remind me of Lucy.”

And because I adore Joe Anne, I would take this as a compliment ... though, in my heart, I have always suspected I am more like Charlie Brown, but only when I am wishy-washy, which I prefer to think of as ambivalence. And Peppermint Patty, in her mannerisms. And Pig-Pen, at times, when I look around at the chaos surrounding me. And Snoopy, too, and not just because of his active imagination and “It was a dark and stormy night” and all that. And Linus, when he philosophizes.

Yeah, probably Linus, most of all.

When I was in first grade, my class got to do a radio Christmas show. This seemed way more exciting than what we had done in kindergarten: A Christmas pageant, with Kim Holland getting the lead role as Suzy Snowflake and the rest of us 5-year-olds serving as the backup choir; I remember being in full glory as one of the little drummer boys, banging on a drum made out of a coffee can.

Anyway, that next year, the entire first grade got to tape a 15- to 20-minute presentation to be played on the local radio station, WSHY-FM, 104.9. None of us actually admitted to listening to that station because it played country music ... though I also remember it playing “Sister Mary Elephant” and “One Tin Soldier” many years later, during my middle-school years ... but it was all we had, there in The Ville, and we knew we had our big chance to be celebrities.

Being on the radio is bigtime.

As we prepared for the taping of the big show, of course, we had several rehearsals. Miss Swank, our music teacher, picked out a few songs for the entire class to work on, and she also selected a handful of songs to be sung as solos. I don’t remember who got to sing the solos; I am pretty sure Greg Johnson sang one because I remember him having a good voice. And probably Kim Holland, too; I mean, she brought down the house as Suzy Snowflake.

I think a few other kids got picked to read little tidbits to fill the spaces between the songs.

And I remember being all bummed out, once the soloists and readers had been named. I mean, geez: I could carry a tune. I was a good out-loud reader. I wanted a chance to be heard, too!

But what can you say when you don’t get picked? Nothing! You just have to suck it up and do what everyone else does: Pretend you couldn’t care less. Act like you aren’t all that interested in the big radio show. Sing along with the rest of the rejects. Ho, ho, ho.

And then, the day before the taping, my teacher came up to me. Naturally, I thought I was in trouble for something, but no: She told me she had a special part for me.

“When the chorus sings ‘Silent Night,’ I want you to read this,” she said, handing me a piece of paper.

These were the words, taken from Chapter 2 of Luke:

And there were, in the same country
shepherds abiding in the field, keeping
watch over their flock by night. And lo,
the angel of the Lord came up on them,
and the glory of the Lord shone round
about them. And they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, “Fear not,
for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy
which will be to all people. For unto you
is born this day in the city of David a
savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this
shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the
babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying
in a manger.” And suddenly there was
with the angel a multitude of heavenly
host, praising God and saying, “Glory to
God in the highest, and on Earth peace,
goodwill toward men.”

Yeah, that’s right: Linus’ lines.

I think I nailed it perfectly on the first run-through, if my memory is correct.

And my dad taped the show, so I got to listen to it a few times afterwards, after hearing it live (on tape) on the radio. And it was very cool ... though I have never been particularly fond of hearing my own voice on a recording ...

When my dad died in 1991, I remember collecting a few items from his house. Photos, mainly; I meant to see if I could get his Elvis records, too, but everything was such a blur, and at the time I was so sad and mad and numb, really ... and then the house sold, and Dad’s fourth wife, Charlotte, (this was actually his fifth marriage, if you didn’t count Helen, whom he had married twice), after their less than two months together, packed up everything and high-tailed it to somewhere, never to be seen again.

And I have never really cared about any material possessions that he’d had, but I do wonder, sometimes, if he still had the recording of that Christmas show. ’Cause I would sure like to hear it again, 35 years later.

: )