Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tree: Dumb Christmas Decoration
By: Keith
So, A Charlie Brown Christmas has been saved for another year. That’s great. However, during my investigations into yesterday’s article I found out that some jackass, or several, have decided to commercialize on the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I suppose it’s the American way – to suck the spontaneity and life out of everything pure, to artificially induce Americana through mass production. I’ll pass, thanks. Why is it so bad? In part because they’re charging 15 bucks for this thing. And, of course, because the construction material is, you guessed it, plastic, hardly a reflection on the meaning of Christmas as told by Linus. Of course, nobody would ever think of constructing this decoration for free by picking up a branch from the ground. Here’s a link to the tree in question. Don’t buy it though unless you live in an area where there are no branches lying around on the ground and you don’t have access to a board to nail it into.
The meaning of Christmas is somewhat different depending on what you believe. The word Christmas is clearly an endorsement for a recognition of Christ. However, the timing of Christmas at the end of December and many of the traditions of the holiday point to a secular or Pagan holiday. I’m not here to make a proclamation about it other than to say both sides (or all the sides) have legitimate arguments. The one thing I think everybody can agree on is that Christmas was never intended by anybody to be hijacked by corporate carpetbaggers (except of course the corporate carpetbaggers). But, it has been, and we all have to live with it. Where it was once either pagan or Christian, depending on who you are, it is now almost entirely under the ownership of major corporations. Christmas supports our American way of life. Without Christmas there would be no Black Friday. Businesses would have to entirely restructure to stay ahead of debt. Love it or hate it, we’re all in this together.
Do we have to buy every stupid little trinket on the market? No. I still believe that only the best should survive. Yes, we spend wastefully on unnecessary Christmas presents. Yes, we partake in what has become an orgy of capitalism. I do it with my eyes wide open. I even do it joyfully because I believe in capitalism and I like to shop. I don’t have a problem with the commercialization of Christmas – for the most part. I have a problem with it when it starts whitewashing what really is important. We can partake, and enjoy, the commercialism as long as we also remain grounded. One of the ways we do that is with subtle reminders. Charles Schultz gave us Charlie Brown’s tree and Charles Schultz dreamed up how to convey the meaning of Christmas through art. We do not have to buy into the notion that we’re being authentic when we purchase the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I’m sure they must have gotten permission from Schultz’s estate for licensing. That’s another article for another time. The tree should have stayed on the screen.
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Yes! Yes, it does come with the ball
A whole 50 cent value. LOL