Okay, rant over.

I gave all the papers an initial read-through and have done the extensive commenting on some. (I will do the rest tomorrow; working on stuff like this too late interferes with sleep).

I also took a break to watch the re-run (for the what, 49th time?) of A Charlie Brown Christmas. I still love it. I still tear up when Linus goes, "Lights, please" and recites Luke 2. (Funny; I never teared up over it as a kid - it was only over the age of 35 or so that that began happening). I still chuckle over Schroeder's various renditions of Jingle Bells. (And Fur Elise: "It's BEETHOVEN Christmas music.")

One thing I noticed this year (and I maintain that any kind of quality entertainment, be it book, movie, or cartoon, is one where you see new things upon re-experiencing it) - Lucy is terribly insecure, isn't she? I always thought of her as bossy and a fussbudget (my parents used to make me mad when I was a kid by jokingly referring to me as a fussbudget, though I kind of was (which is actually probably why it made me mad - deep down I knew there was truth to it). But she asks Charlie Brown if he thinks she's pretty, then gets angry when he hesitates to answer. And later she practically begs Schroeder for a present, and seems to take his demurral as a reflection on either her lack of worth or his "hatred" of her (though maybe that was from one of the more-modern shorts they appended on to the original special to flesh it out to an hour). Maybe that's why she's always bugged me - she cuts a bit close to home. (I am somewhat insecure. But I own it, I recognize it, and most of the time I can keep a lid on it without demanding people tell me if they think I'm pretty or smart or whatever).

I always liked Linus - who was more of a philosopher and a humanitarian - better. (He's probably my favorite of the human characters, though Charlie Brown is a close second, because I do sympathize with him over the stuff like going to the mailbox and finding no greeting cards, even though he knows others are getting them).

I'm still hoping "Christmas in Connecticut" (the ORIGINAL version, with Barbara Stanwyck and "Cuddles" Sakall) is on at a time when I can watch it. (And "The Bishop's Wife." And "The Man Who Came to Dinner.")