SANTA ROSA, Calif. — When A Charlie Brown Christmas first aired in 1965, it quickly became a holiday staple for families across the country. What many viewers didn’t know was how close the animated special came to missing Christmas altogether.
The story behind the beloved cartoon is now told at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, where visitors can explore how the production came together under intense circumstances.
For decades, watching Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang during the holidays has been a tradition dating back to that first broadcast 60 years ago…