Monday, December 8, 2008

Loo Loo Looooo, Loo Loo Loo Loo Loo...















So, I'm a proud papa.  

Background:  I've broken our "no TV" rule for Miriam on three occasions.  First occasion was the NCAA Tournament last year.  Second occasion was to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2 weeks ago (not that she was interested).  Third was tonight:  ABC's season airing of "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown".  

This is the ONLY Christmas "special" I watch.  I suspect I'm not the only person who has drawn the line here.  Not that animated clay Yeti aren't classy, but there's something great about a 40-year-old cartoon that makes fun of commercialized Christmas.

We stopped EVERYTHING at 7pm tonight and plopped down in front of the rabbit ears.  Mimi was mildly interested at first - she thought that crazy dog was funny, and she debuted a new dance to Guaraldi's classic jazzy tunes (some kind of a right-footed stomp she invented just for this occasion).  But during the show she bounced back and forth from brushing her teeth, playing with the camera tripod, playing with waded up post-it-notes, and occasionally sitting in my lap to watch the show.  But when Charlie Brown had his melt down, threw up his hands and said, "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?", Mimi walked over and sat in my lap and listened as Linus recited Luke 2.  She didn't move a muscle as Linus spoke.  Then, when he was done, she climbed up and popped over to her little barn, picked up a plastic chicken and went "cluck cluck!"  I teared up.

We'll probably let her watch TV again the when they announce the brackets in March.