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Lisa M. Frame

Christmas

The U.S. Postal Service Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of “A Charlie Brown Christmas”

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October 2 marked the 65th anniversary of the “Peanuts” comic strip and December marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most popular holiday TV classics of all time — “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” It doesn’t matter how I old I am, I will never be too old to sit down and go through the highs and lows of life with Charlie Brown as he searches for the meaning of Christmas. There are always great reminders and lessons to be learned from The Peanuts and Schulz’s quirky and sophisticated genius continues to intrigue us years later. Everybody identifies with Charlie Brown.

Remind everyone of the true meaning of Christmas with the new Charlie Brown Christmas Stamps from the US Postal Service

To celebrate the holiday season, and launch October as National Stamp Collecting Month, the U.S. Postal Service dedicated the A Charlie Brown Christmas Forever stamps at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA on October 1, 2015. The stamps are available nationwide for purchase by customers.

The 2015 Charlie Brown Christmas Stamps from the US Postal Service are perfect for this seasons Christmas cards.

The Postmaster General, Megan Brennan, was joined at the ceremony by: Schulz’s wife Jean Schulz, Schulz’s son Craig Schulz, Emmy award-winning “A Charlie Brown Christmas” Executive Producer Lee Mendelson, U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors Acting Chairman James Bilbray, Charles M. Schulz Museum Director Karen Johnson, and of course, Snoopy.

“We will visit millions of addresses to connect Americans to one another this holiday season, and to enable the sharing that reinforces family and friendship throughout the country,” said Brennan. “In so many ways, ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas,’ especially on its 50th anniversary, delivers the spirit of the holidays, by bringing people and generations together to share in a beautiful and simple story.”

“’A Charlie Brown Christmas’ continues to resonate with fans because everyone can relate to Charlie Brown and his quest to find the true meaning of Christmas,” said Jean Schulz. “It will be a great joy to see these iconic images when I open my mailbox this holiday season.”

The early October release of the stamp coincides with the “Peanuts” comic strip debut in seven newspapers on Oct. 2, 1950: The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Allentown Call-Chronicle, The Bethlehem Globe-Times, The Denver Post, and The Seattle Times. When Schulz announced his retirement in December 1999, the “Peanuts” comic strip was syndicated in more than 2,600 newspapers worldwide, with book collections translated in more than 21 languages.

Art director Antonio Alcalá of Alexandria, VA, designed the stamps.

Share your excitement about the stamps on social media using #CharlieBrownStamps.

About The Christmas Classic

“A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the first animated special featuring “Peanuts” characters aired on CBS Dec. 9, 1965. Over the years, the ode to the holiday season has become a tradition.

Work began on “A Charlie Brown Christmas” in the spring of 1965 when Schulz met with producer Lee Mendelson and animator Bill Melendez. Instead of hiring adult actors, the group decided to take the then-unusual step of having children provide voices for most of the characters.

Schulz insisted that the program should not have a laugh track, which he considered cynical and unnecessary. “Let the people at home enjoy the show at their own speed,” he said, “in their own way.” Composer Vince Guaraldi contributed a memorable jazz score. “Linus and Lucy,” a lively piano tune that plays in the film, is still synonymous with Peanuts.

Schulz’s script focuses on Charlie Brown’s search for the true meaning of Christmas. All around him, his friends are enjoying themselves, but he is bothered by the season’s commercialism. “I just don’t understand Christmas, I guess,” he tells Linus. “I like getting presents, and sending Christmas cards, and decorating trees and all that, but I’m still not happy.”

At Lucy’s request, Charlie Brown agrees to direct their school’s Christmas play. The production is temporarily derailed when the other children laugh at him for choosing a small sapling — not a shiny aluminum replica — as a Christmas tree. When Charlie Brown wonders if there’s anyone who knows what Christmas is all about, Linus says that he does, and proceeds to recite a rendition of the biblical Nativity story. When he’s finished, he picks up his blanket and says, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

Encouraged, Charlie Brown rushes home to decorate his small tree, only to be disappointed again when it collapses under the weight of one ornament. His pals, however, come to the rescue, turning the sapling into a glimmering masterpiece.

Watched in more than 15 million American homes, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was a smash hit. It won the George Foster Peabody Award and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program.

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” is being issued as Forever stamps that will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce price.

The 2015 Charlie Brown Christmas Stamps from the US Postal Service

Ordering First-Day-of-Issue Postmarks
Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at local Post Offices, at The Postal Store at usps.com/shop or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others) and place them in larger envelopes addressed to:

A Charlie Brown Christmas Stamps

Special Events

PO Box 7838

San Francisco, CA 94120-7838

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark up to a quantity of 50. For more than 50, the price is 5 cents each. All orders must be postmarked by Nov. 30, 2015.

Ordering First-Day Covers

The Postal Service also offers first-day covers and Postal Service stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterly USA Philatelic catalog, online at usps.com/shop or by calling 800-782-6724. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 800-782-6724 or writing to:

U.S. Postal Service
Catalog Request
PO Box 219014
Kansas City, MO 64121-9014

Gift Guide: Under $50

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Here’s the perfect gift guide for the last minute shoppers. Great for family and friends, stocking stuffers, gift add-ons, or for yourself.

Gift Guide: Under $50

 

Outsmarting the Christmas Present Shaker with Don’t Shake It

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I live with a snoop. He can’t handle Christmas presents actually being wrapped and under the tree because surprises stink, and he wants to know NOW! That’s right folks, I’m talking about my husband. This year, the proverbial goose is cooked, thanks to the folks over at Don’t Shake it.

Don’t Shake It is sound effects for gifts. They come in pre-recorded and recordable inserts you slip into the packages prior to wrapping. Every time someone moves or shakes a gift, Don’t Shake It is activated and let’s the offender know they’ve been caught red-handed.

Don't Shake it - For Keeping Nosy Nellie's Away from packages under the tree.

My current favorite is “breaking glass”, because the look on faces when they are shaking a pair of gloves is priceless. It’s deer in the headlights meets toddler with hand in the cookie jar. Belly laughs are guaranteed due to the unsuspecting victims and their reactions.

Christmas is definitely more entertaining around these parts. I’ll be using Don’t Shake It for quite some time.

Don’t Shake It retails for $4.95 each or $20.95 for a pack of five.

Disclosure: Don’t Shake It sent me samples to facilitate this review. The only other compensation I’ve received was the look on my husband’s face when he thought he’d broke a present. That is priceless. 

#SharingCheer with Studiobanks

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As people take time to celebrate the holidays and reflect on 2013, Studiobanks, a digital agency located in Charlotte, NC, is giving back and having fun while doing so and they need your help. The only thing you have to do is grab your camera and post a picture to Instagram or Twitter with the tag #SharingCheer. (Obviously, we’d all like to see you sharing your holiday revelry!)

Studiobanks #SharingCheer

For each cheery picture posted Studiobanks will donate a dollar to A Child’s Place, an organization in Charlotte that supports children in our area dealing with homelessness.

A Child’s Place (ACP) works to erase the impact of homelessness on children and their education. ACP began in 1989 when a group of women were walking through the cemetery in downtown Charlotte and noticed a group of kids playing. When asked why the kids were not in school the children explained that they were not allowed to enroll in school without a permanent address. The group of women began offering school for this group of 27 children in a one room schoolhouse provided by First Presbyterian Church with a teacher from CMS. In 1989, the McKinney-Vento Act was passed protecting the educational rights of homeless children ensuring they are provided the necessities they need to regularly attend school. Since that first class of 27 ACP client children we have grown to help 2,656 homeless children during the 2012-13 school year.

Homeless children are living in unstable living conditions that include shelters, motels, doubled-up with others and cars. Because of the instability they experience, these children are:

  • Hungry twice as often as other children;
  • Sick four times more often;
  • Two to three grade levels behind and twice as likely to repeat a grade; and
  • Experience emotional and behavioral problems three times more than their housed peers
  • The national graduation rate for homeless children is below 25%.

Sources: National Center on Family Homelessness

ACP works to remove these barriers for client children to attain their education and make school the most stable part of their lives. We provide educational and emotional support services as well as medical referrals to keep our client children healthy and in the classroom.

Most of our client families are the working poor. For them, homelessness is not a way of life; it’s a time in their lives. By minimizing the impact of this difficult time on the children and their academic growth, ACP contributes to their likelihood of breaking the cycle of poverty.

Stability and education are key solutions to solve the homeless problem here in Charlotte. The relationship between education and income is one of the best-documented in economics: those with more education make more money. For every year a child progresses through school, the likelihood of being poor and homeless as an adult decreases.

After posting your pictures, visit their site, SharingCheer.com to see your pictures, as well as the images contributed by others.

If you’re #SharingCheer, please share a link here. We’d love to see them and share your cheer!

Now, let’s get started #SharingCheer!

A Child’s Place is 100% privately funded. They receive no federal, state or local tax dollars. They do not charge their clients fees. There is no endowment or business on the side to generate revenue. During the 2012-13 fiscal year, A Child’s Place received donations from the following sources: Foundations, 29%; Individuals, 28%; United Way designations, 11%; Businesses, 14%; Faith and civic organizations, 18%.