By Neal Wooten
Looking back at my childhood, television was not an obsession. I would much rather be outside playing. Of course, we had a small 13-inch black-and-white set that got three channels, so there weren’t a lot of choices anyway. But each year at Christmastime, TV took on a whole new meaning with wonderful recurring shows.
The Grinch, the animated version before the Jim Carrey movie, had perhaps the best message of all. He thought Christmas was only about material things and commercialization and set out to destroy it. What he learns is that Christmas is not about that at all, and he comes to fully embrace the true meaning. That’s one movie theme I hope never dies.
A Charlie Brown Christmas was the most relatable to me. It wasn’t just the connection of the kids; it was Charlie Brown’s tree. The first time I watched it, I didn’t realize his tree was supposed to be inferior. It looked pretty much like every real tree we ever cut ourselves on our property. And just like the Peanuts kids did, we rallied around our scraggly tree and turned it into the centerpiece of the season.
We watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer also. Part of the message there was a tad confusing. If you have a physical anomaly or deformity, other kids and adults are going to make fun of you and push you away. But if that deformity turns out to be useful, everyone will like you. For a kid like me with abnormally short legs, flat feet, and crooked toes, it had me worried. I’m still waiting for those to come in handy.
Frosty the Snowman had a similarly distressing plot. If you have something that you need, maybe even to stay alive, and someone more powerful wants it, they’re coming after it. Luckily, it also taught us that there’s usually at least one person who will risk their own safety to stick by us through everything.
But the show that resonated most with me as a kid was the Little House on the Prairie Christmas Special. It was the one where Mr. Edwards, played by Victor French, risked his life and trekked all the way from Liberty, Missouri, in a blizzard, once having to hold his clothes above his head as he crossed a creek just to keep his promise to Santa and bring Christmas to the three Ingalls girls. He almost froze to death, but he made it. The gifts were a tin cup, a stick of peppermint, and a heart-shaped cake.
That’s the best lesson of all. Christmas isn’t about the presents or the food; it’s about family and loved ones. Braco, Mr. Edwards. Merry Christmas.
