Holiday TV specials are still special

When my oldest nephew was about 5, we took a trip to Memphis. At the hotel, he asked me to type in the name of a cartoon he wanted to watch and I explained to him that it wasn’t a smart television. It couldn’t pull up shows on Netflix or other streaming services like his TV at home, which is how he’s always known television to work.

He asked me if it was a dumb television.

For those of us who grew up before on-demand or even easy access to cable television, children’s shows like the Charlie Brown holiday specials and the “Wizard of Oz” hold a special nostalgia.

We grew up in the country and only had three or four channels that you could count on to regularly work.

Children’s cartoons were only available on Saturday mornings. That is except for the one VHS of recorded cartoons my grandmother had and all of us kids knew by heart, and the annual holiday specials.

The holiday specials played during prime time TV in the evenings and could be counted on to return every year.

I was disappointed in recent years when some of those holiday specials suddenly became only available through select streaming services.

I would hate to think of generations of kids who don’t get to experience Linus’ faith and positive outlook in “The Great Pumpkin,” even when no one else believes and the big night doesn’t go as he expects.

Or see the simple beauty of Charlie Brown’s little Christmas tree coming to life in “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

That story resonates with me, especially as someone who still makes picking out a real tree a tradition and decorating it with a host of ornaments that are inherited, homemade or important for sentimental reasons. They don’t match, some are a little dented or dinged, and many are a little silly, but I love each one for the story it tells.

There’s only one place to find the Charlie Brown holiday specials this year, on the Apple TV+ app, but the good news is you don’t have to be a subscriber to watch.

There will be a free window to watch “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” from November 23-27.

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” will be available for free from Dec. 22-25.

They’ll be a part of our family tradition again this year, with my youngest nephew Liam getting a chance to enjoy the magic of these Christmas specials that have aged well, even at nearly 60.

Donna Farley is the editor of the Daily American Republic. She can be reached at dfarely.dar@gmail.com.