Christmas TV

The other night, Rudolph, played on the TV. I heard the music as I passed my medications. Oh, that music never leaves you in doubt this special time of year arrived. I remember when these specials were all new.
One year after the all afternoon Sunday School program, we came home to watch a delightful new special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, on our black and white television. So many of what we call classics now, sparkled with newness when I was a child. Some had copyright laws and we didn't see them as children, like It's a Wonderful Life.
Beginning in December the parade started of all the cartoon specials, the celebrity specials and any other Christmas TV you could imagine. And they had to be watched then or you missed it till the next year. Along with the specials during this month, all the TV series had their own Christmas show. They dealt with a Christmas miracle or change every time. A church service with a Christmas message threw a dart into a character's heart. They may never have gone to church any other day of the year, but most TV families showed up on Christmas, with the children in the program, only performed on Christmas Eve.
 The Twilight Zone didn't follow that mode of church service. Drunken Santas or something bizarre carried the storyline. Still, they all ended with good will toward men and the like.
I think during the 50's and 60's, the United States TV land lulled us into thinking we were all Christians and safe with our faith. Because at least on Christmas, everyone proclaimed the birth of Jesus and how that holiday changed the world. No one made a big deal about the greeting "Merry Christmas," because we didn't have to.