I have yearly rituals. Every Valentine’s Day, I drink and watch some chick flick (usually Definitely Maybe) because the end of whatever movie makes me feel good and give me hope. On May 4th, I wear my Admiral Ackbar “It’s a Trap!” t-shirt or my “Chewy” t-shirt. On November the 5th, I remember the 5th of November and I salute the discovery of time travel.

In December, I watch Christmas movies. Without fail, in early December I will watch A Charlie Brown Christmas and shortly afterwards, I’ll watch It’s a Wonderful Life.

These are two completely different movies, offering completely different values to live by. Charlie Brown turns out to be the biggest hypocrite but it doesn’t bother me. The made for TV special preaches against the overly consumer driven nature of the holiday season and makes a call for us to return to the roots of the holiday, the religion.

It’s funny to realize how much consumerism is involved in the Peanuts brand. You want to buy something with the Peanuts characters on it? Chances are, you can. A couple of years back, without any trouble my mom found a fake Christmas tree made to resemble the real one from the holiday special (I won’t even dig into that irony). We have a family friend who has hundreds upon hundreds of Peanuts ornaments because every year he rushes out to buy them from Hallmark.

I’m not saying that the Christmas special is any less special for these facts, I’m just suggesting that you watch it with a grain of salt.

That being said, if anyone is wondering what to get me for Christmas, I want real estate.