Thanksgiving, a time of thanks and giving, hence the name.

But even more so, a time for tradition and memories to be made. Many a person has a traditional Thanksgiving, whether they have the same dinner every year or if they go somewhere for that dinner. No matter how you put it, there will always be tradition involved when Thanksgiving comes around, and with Thanksgiving coming around soon, there is no better way to celebrate than to watch the greatest Thanksgiving film of all time, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.

While watching this one-of-a-kind masterclass of cinema, you will find many scenes that will bring out a nice laugh and scenes that will touch the heart. From the beginning, we see the lighthearted nature of the film as Charlie Brown tries to kick the football from Lucy. However, as always, “he falls flat on his back and kills himself.” We also see many memorable scenes such as Snoopy and Woodstock coming together to help with the early Thanksgiving dinner that Charlie Brown is hosting for his friends.

To go along with many scenes of pure bliss and joy, we can hear the wonderfully composed music by Vince Guaraldi. We hear the wonderful melodies in songs such as Little Birdie and the Thanksgiving Theme. Also, we hear the classic Charlie Brown theme itself, Linus and Lucy which we probably have all heard before sometime in our lives.

But music is only part of what makes the film so great. As said before the film has many lighthearted scenes that all come together to help with the lessons that the film is trying to teach, some of which being: coming together, friendship, and gratitude.

The film comes together due to Charlie Brown not being able to deny the request of Peppermint Patty to come over and have Thanksgiving dinner at his house. She ends up inviting multiple other characters and Chuck (Charlie Brown) has to try and make something that he thinks that they will like. Because he can’t cook, we end up seeing these comical, lighthearted scenes unfold. We see Linus ask Snoopy to help with the Thanksgiving dinner set up and help with the cooking. However, they aren’t very good at cooking and end up with only toast, popcorn, pretzel sticks, and jellybeans. Which I think is a solid choice of food.

After Peppermint Patty sees this selection of food, she gets mad at Charlie Brown and ends up making him feel bad for the work that he put in. Marcie, a friend of both, helps them make up and realize that Thanksgiving isn’t just about the food but the memories we make and the friends we have, which is enough to make a grown man cry. As the film comes to a close, we see all the characters come together to have a proper Thanksgiving dinner at Charlie Brown’s grandmother’s condominium, leaving a warmth for viewers all around.

Overall, the film is able to bring together fun times with friends together to give us a lesson on how Thanksgiving should really be. It continues to be a holiday classic and rather than rot while watching the Macy’s Day parade, you should spend your time watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving over and over again. However, don’t watch the Mayflower Voyagers part if you have it on DVD because it isn’t very good, but I don’t count that.

So, as Thanksgiving comes near, take the time to appreciate the things that A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving can teach us… if you’re mean to your friends, you can get invited to Thanksgiving dinner.