[Tell It Right]

IIRC I read years ago that Charles Schultz's team didn't plan it. A TV exec called kind of late in the season to plan it and said, "You guys are making a Christmas special, right?" And Schultz's PR guy (or whatever worker) said, "Of course", even though they hadn't thought of it. And then he called Schultz and said, "They want us to make a Christmas special!". Thus they had to rush to make one.

And that was one reason for the touching scene of Linus quoting the Jesus birth story from the Bible. For those couple of minutes of screen time there was no production time needed for the creativity or script writing to hash out what had to be said. It was already written in Luke 2. Simple, yet everyone I know talks like it's their favorite part.

[one guy in new jersey]

Did you notice? Linus subtly drops his blanket to the ground when reciting the line “Fear not!”.

[dadgum]

My favorite part as well.

I most likely saw the original broadcast, but can’t recall it - I was 6 months old.

[Natty Bumppo@frontier.net]

While reading Luke, Chapter 2, in a Charlie Brown Christmas is the ONLY time in all of Peanuts that Linus was drawn without his beloved security blanket.

Charles Schultz knew exactly what he was doing.