The Memorial Day weekend that produced the most beloved Christmas special of all time

In late May 1965, Coca-Cola contacted Charles Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip, and commissioned him to create an animated Christmas special that the soft drink company would sponsor. With just six months to produce the television program, the cartoonist immediately called a meeting with his producer, Lee Mendelson, and with the show’s director, Bill Melendez.

Churchgoers might object that animating the Bible and having its sacred verses spoken by cartoon characters was sacrilegious. Those less religious might be turned off by preachy moralizing. Schulz was undeterred by his colleagues’ objections asking, 'If we don’t do it, who will?' At one point, the three men took time to relax in Schulz’s swimming pool.

Schulz succumbed to colon cancer in 2000 at the age of 77, passing away the same day that the last comic strip he had drawn was published. His simple grave marker makes no reference that he was the creator of the multi-billion entertainment property Peanuts, but it does reference what the cartoonist considered his life’s proudest role. Following the name 'Charles M.

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