First airing in 1973, this animated prime-time special is based on the wildly popular Peanuts characters, from the comic strip Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz. Throughout the special, there is a relaxing jazz score, a kind of early lo-fi music you see everywhere nowadays. It is perfect because it doesn’t take away from the action happening on the screen.
This special starts out with Charlie Brown, his sister Sally, and his best friend Linus Van Pelt. They are discussing how Thanksgiving is coming up and their plans for the holiday. Charlie Brown and his family will go to their grandma’s for dinner, a traditional meal among family.
Suddenly, Charlie Brown has his plans changed unexpectedly when Peppermint Patty calls Charlie Brown. For context, Peppermint Patty has a crush on Charlie Brown. Her father let her go over to Charlie Brown’s house to spend Thanksgiving because he was going to be out of town for work. Charlie Brown couldn’t get a word in as she remarked, “I don’t mind inviting myself over because I know you kinda like me Chuck”.
Peppermint Patty starts to invite their friends Franklin, and Marcie, with the assumption that Charlie Brown’s parents will be okay with this. But the problem is Charlie Brown won’t even be at his home, he starts to feel like he is losing control of the world.
Luckily, Linus hears how Charlie Brown feels like he is going to let down Peppermint Patty. He reassures him that he can go to two dinners, “Okay, that makes it easy. You simply have two dinners. You cook the first one yourself for your friends. And then you go to your grandmothers with your family for the second one”. But Charlie Brown hilariously counters with “I can’t cook a Thanksgiving dinner, all I can make is cold cereal and maybe toast”.
This is where our favorite beagle Snoopy comes in, as Linus enlists his aid to set up a table in the backyard. The tune changes with “A Little Birdie” by Vince Guaraldi, the composer for the piano soundtracks that are familiar with Snoopy and the Peanuts characters. As this plays in the background we see a montage of Snoopy and Woodstock setting up the table with what they can find in the garage.
They find a ping pong table, which Snoopy plays with, but Linus reminds him that there is no time to play. Therefore Snoopy now looks for chairs in the garage, he struggles with one and he gets in a fight with it…the chair fights back. You will have to see it with your own eyes, you believe it.
Peppermint Patty, Marcie and Franklin get together before the dinner, as Snoopy finishes setting up the table. As the Peanuts theme is heard we see Charlie Bown, Snoopy, Woodstock and Linus preparing the dinner. The Peanuts gang, consisting of Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Franklin, Linus, Sally, Snoopy and Charlie Brown, gather around the table to enjoy dinner and give thanks.
Linus tells the history of the first Thanksgiving. This is followed by Snoopy serving everyone’s food and handing them their plate. Unfortunately, Peppermint Patty doesn’t like what she sees on her plate, a piece of toast, a pretzel stick, and popcorn. She expected turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.
Peppermint Patty is clearly annoyed at this,”What’s this a piece of toast,a pretzel stick, popcorn, what blockhead could up all these. What kind of Thanksgiving dinner is this, where is the turkey, Chuck?”. This makes Charlie Brown leave the table. Marcie reminds Peppermint Patty, that it is she who invited herself and the friends and not the other way around. Charlie Brown feels bad, he goes inside his house, Marcie reassures Charlie Brown that Peppermint Patty didn’t mean what she said, in fact, she is fine with the dinner that was served. Charlie Brown is not that concerned about himself, instead, he is concerned that he ruined Thanksgiving for everyone else.
It is here that Marcie reminds us of the true meaning of Thanksgiving, “Thanksgiving is more than eating Chuck. We should just be thankful for being together”. Peppermint Patty and Charlie Brown reconcile. Charlie Brown sees the clock inside the house and realizes that the dinner at her grandma’s house at 4:30 is 30 minutes away. So he calls her grandma and she tells him that he can bring his friends over to celebrate thanksgiving, and eat thanksgiving food. They all get in Charlie Brown’s fathers car, and they begin the road trip.
Snoopy and Woodstock meanwhile have a meal for the both of them. As they enjoy their turkey with vegetables.
This movie reminds us of the importance of Thanksgiving, it is not what is served on our plate but who is around us to enjoy the food and the good times.
