There Was One Christmas Tradition That Was Broken:

I did not see A Charlie Brown Christmas this year.  For some reason the Charlie Brown specials moved from ABC (even though I remember it airing on CBS for the longest time; ABC must've bought the rights like a sports league) to Apple TV+.  Once the news hit that these specials were migrating onto the streaming platform only -- and the news I think hit just before It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown would normally air on over-the-air TV -- there was concern that people would have to pay to watch them.  Now, I don't remember the chronology, but Apple TV+ announced a short time later that Pumpkin and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving would be free.  No news, however, on Christmas, and no news meant the worst-case scenario, namely that you would have to pay for the privilege of watching a show that generations of people have watched for free.

Later on in the fall, Apple TV+ tried to assuage further outrage by selling or giving the rights to Thanksgiving and Christmas to PBS, which then announced it was showing both specials once some early Sunday evening before each respective holiday.  That doesn't help me none because I am busy watching the NFL then.  But I do have a phone and Apple TV+ app magically was installed on it one day, so I was able to watch Pumpkin and Thanksgiving on it.  And, I was able to watch them on the days you are supposed to watch them: Halloween and Thanksgiving, respectively.  That did not happen for Christmas, like I said.  Don't exactly know why: I understand that special has special reverence for Linus' show-stopping, heart-rending recitation of the birth of Jesus Christ alone, but frankly, I think Pumpkin is the best and the most popular of the three.  (Thanksgiving is the middle special if you go by time of the year and it is regarded like any middle child ... but it deserves its less-than-hallowed reputation because it ain't that great.)  If I could have seen the first two on their holidays, I really don't see why I couldn't do the same yesterday.

And not for nothing, but I just checked the application and looked up all three specials online.  They are not free now.  But you can sign up for a free weeklong trial of Apple TV+ and then you can see them.  Just understand you'll be paying seven bucks a month after your trial period is over.

Most of all, what worries me now is that I won't be able to see any of the Peanuts specials during the holidays without paying for them.  I'm afraid Charles Schulz's gang is going by way of Sesame Street -- into not just for-profit, corporate America, but cut-throat, what's-in-it-for-me America.  Charlie Brown never had a hand out, as far as I can remember. ...