I Am SUCH A Mom

Last evening, Jeremy and I let Preston stay up past his scheduled bedtime, so that we could all snuggle on the couch and watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Since P'Dub is only 21 months old, we weren't even sure he'd sit through a half-hour show. But, he did!

Preston shouted, "PUNKIN!" and "DOGGIE!" whenever they appeared on-screen. He also enjoyed Schroeder tickling the ivories. And when the commercial breaks hit, he would yell "Mote!" (which is short for reMOTE); thinking that the channel got switched.

I, for one, would have loved to switch the channel. Don't get me wrong, I know this is a classic. But I probably haven't seen it in 20 years, and I don't recall EVER watching it as closely as I did last night.

Those kids are mean and rude. If they aren't calling another kid STUPID or BLOCK HEAD, they are yelling in one another's faces or writing on some poor dude's bald head. That Lucy chick is a real asshole. And Sally isn't far behind her.

And what about that weird Red Baron footage? What every little kid wants to see is their favorite little Snoopy shooting up the enemy and being shot at – bullet holes in the dog box included – until he gets shot down himself. It seems a bit violent, don't ya think?

Plus, there is the sad story of Charlie Brown himself. This kid gets bullied the entire show. He gets an invitation to a party, but is told he was accidentally invited as his name was on the 'NOT INVITED' list. He wants to be a ghost for Tricks-or-Treats, but his costume is full of holes as he had trouble with the scissors. Poor guy can't get a break. And on top of everything, all the kids get candy, gum, and popcorn balls when they go up to houses, and Charlie gets rocks every time. Why? Why all the Chuck haters?

And last, but not least, the horrific ending to the show: THERE IS NO GREAT PUMPKIN. Are you kidding me? Could you imagine how upset your little one would be if they believed in something that much, and every year the pumpkin was a no-show. Linus waits every year in the patch, and every year he is let down. BUT, he never gives up. Go Linus!

The one and only nice thing in the story, is when that witch Lucy actually gets her brother out of the patch at 4:00am. He's shivering and tired, and she puts him to bed.

At any rate, I think I'll wait to watch this again with Preston when he's twelve.