Thank goodness for 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'

One of the most beloved holiday specials ever made doesn't start with costumed pageants, joyful carols or snowmen come to life but with a self-aware declaration of seasonal depression.

- Abigail Rosenthal, Tribune News Service

"I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus,” says Charlie Brown, shuffling through the snow as other kids frolic to a song about the holiday's happiness and cheer. “Christmas is coming, but I'm not happy. I don’t feel the way I'm supposed to feel.” Sixty years ago this week, on Dec. 9, 1965, TV audiences were introduced to a downtrodden blockhead and his quest to find joy and understand the true meaning of Christmas — made more difficult when he doesn't get any Christmas cards, the other children can’t be bothered to listen to his instructions for the Christmas play Lucy appoints him to direct and his own dog enters a commercialised decorating contest to win “money, money, money.”