How Macy’s is celebrating the 50th anniversary of ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’

This upcoming Dec. 9 marks the 50th anniversary of your favorite Christmas special (and mine), A Charlie Brown Christmas. Whether you just try and catch it in passing when it’s on TV or, if you’re like me, watch it as your official “first Christmas viewing of the season” while putting up your tree, there’s no denying that Charlie Brown and his friends have become a staple in holiday television.

Ahead of the game in marking half a century since Lucy crowned herself Christmas Queen? Macy’s, because of course they are. This past Friday, NYC’s Herald Square store debuted animated window displays inspired by the Charles Schulz special, complete with musical accompaniments.

The displays were designed by Macy’s National Director of Window Presentation Roya Sullivan, and depict six iconic moments from the 1965 Peanuts classic. Like this one from the scene at the beginning of the special, where Lucy tells Charlie Brown there’s a chance he might just have pantophobia (the fear of everything) after charging the poor guy five whole cents.

And this scene, where the kids are fine-tuning their snowball-throwing technique while Charlie Brown does what he does best: complains to Linus about the holiday season.

THERE’S EVEN ONE WITH THE LITTLE TREE, YOU GUYS. We’d feel bad for it (and Charlie Brown) if we didn’t already know how the story ended.

And of course the end scene, because even the Charlie Browniest of Charlie Browns need a happy ending complete with all his frenemies singing at the tops of their lungs.

If there was ever a time those of us who aren’t in NYC wished we were, that time is now. And bonus: We’d be able to catch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in person, too. But for now, we’ll make do with our TVs and social media from the warmth of our living rooms.

Happy 50th, A Charlie Brown Christmas! From the history behind Christmas to all the different possible renditions of “Jingle Bells,” to recognizing the best in others and the importance of asking for tens and twenties to save Santa a trip to the bank, thanks for teaching us the true meaning of the holiday season.

(Images via Instagram)