Overheard at... Starbucks

Charlie Brown: I guess you were right, Linus. I shouldn't have picked this little tree. Everything I do turns into a disaster. I guess I really don't know what Christmas is all about.
Charlie Brown: [shouting in desperation] Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?

A young child was watching A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS while her mom tried to get some work done at Starbucks. I tuned out most of the movie, but was struck by this very memorable line (can’t you just hear Charlie Browns low voice shouting it?)

Holiday lights are going up around our neighborhood already; we put ours up on Sunday. Holiday cheer seems to be bright this year. And if it weren’t for the fiscal cliff, we would probably be having an amazing commercial holiday. But as I talked with friends this last weekend who were shaking their heads at how early everyone was decorating I thought back on three years ago. Deep in the recession our neighborhood looked bleak during that holiday season. Some half-hearted lights up here or there, but mainly all was quiet.

I am trying to remember if this was also the year we got piles of snow here in the Northwest. So much, in fact, that no one could drive anywhere… even to the store for holiday groceries. Trudging through the snow with my backpack on, I grabbed what I could at our local Safeway. Some iceberg lettuce, frozen peas, some meat and potatoes. It wasn’t the best holiday meal I had ever prepared, but it was by far the nicest Christmas I’d had in a long time. Without the rushing around (since it was impossible to leave home) we hung out as a family. Things became
quiet… calm and bright.

Charlie Brown may have felt like his pathetic tree couldn’t stand up to the tinselly glamour of a commercial holiday, but ultimately, like us, the true spirit of Christmas shone through.

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Don’t forget to check out my FREE read from the Genre-istas coming out this Friday. Told by one of the BETTING JESSICA side characters, Cynthia, it is a fun story about how crazy family holidays can sometimes be.