If there’s one thing we love here at WWAC, it’s making adorable avatars of ourselves in various formats. With the upcoming release of The Peanuts Movie, we happily Snoopy-danced our way over to the Peanutizer to produce these little gems and share our special memories of Charlie Brown and the gang.
Angel Cruz: I remember the comic strips most, reading them on Sunday mornings as a nice way to start my reading hour. I discovered the musical You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown a few years ago, and the songs really brought the characters to life for me.
Ardo Omer: What I think of when I think Peanuts is the theme song, Thanksgiving Special, Charlie Brown missing the football kick, and the adults womp-womp-womping. I don’t even celebrate Thanksgiving, and yet, the special is so ingrained in my childhood. I think of warm, sunny Sunday afternoons. Who knows when it ACTUALLY came on…
Amanda Vail: When I think back on it, Peanuts really did color my entire childhood. I grew up in Minnesota, the land of 10,000 Snoopies (they were very proud of native Minnesotan Charles Schultz), and my mom loved the Peanuts shows. From kindergarten through junior high, I watched every Peanuts holiday special, every year, with my family. When I went to college in Saint Paul, there were statues of Peanuts characters everywhere. I’m haunted by Peanuts. Even now, when I’m conversing on some work-related topic or another, I sometimes hear myself as a Peanuts adult: “Wah wah wah wahhhh….”
Vernieda Vergara: I definitely have memories of watching the Charlie Brown specials during the holidays. It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown was always my favorite, but I’m biased toward anything related to Halloween. And for better or worst, the way the adults spoke became my mental track for whenever I’d listen to someone drone on about an inconsequential matter during a presentation or work meeting. (Too honest?)
Kate Tanski: I have so many memories of watching the Peanuts specials during the holidays, but my strongest memory related to Peanuts actually centers around the Peanuts theme song, because it was the example my music theory teacher in high school always used to talk about chord progressions.
Christa Seeley: I didn’t watch a ton of Peanuts growing up, but I remember loving Schroeder and his little piano. If I was a Peanuts character I totally would’ve pushed Lucy off his piano so I could sit there instead. But the thing that sticks out the most in my mind is the confusing Christmas special. The whole special sets up this idea (via Charlie Brown) that Christmas has become too commercialized and people have forgotten its true meaning. But then in the end everyone, including Charlie Brown, makes his little tree into one of the commercialized ones and they all start singing. What is the message here?!
Kat Overland: I grew up reading the comics pages, so I always knew about Peanuts, but the holiday specials were never part of our family traditions. The Vince Guaraldi A Charlie Brown Christmas album, however, was definitely a part of our holiday soundtrack, and has been seared permanently into my brain because it was my college roommate’s preferred study music. Regardless, once the collections came out, I realized that my favorite Peanuts strips are the early ones, which are filled with a kind of weird, childhood nihilism. I like to think that even though the avatar maker didn’t have my haircut, it captures my existential despair pretty well.
Wendy Browne: The Snoopy dance remains an important part of my motivational process.
Melinda Pierce: As a kid of the ’80s, Charlie Brown has always been there for me around the holidays. The Christmas special is my favorite because that sad little Christmas tree got a chance to be beautiful. The Valentine special is also a favorite, because Charlie Brown was after the little red-haired girl, and I was a little red-haired girl. I liked being able to pick a Peanuts character for myself, but I’d preferred some freckles on the skin.
