It just isn’t the holiday season without Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Snoopy, and the rest of the Peanuts gang.  When I was a little girl one of my favorite cartoons to watch during the holidays was A Charlie Brown Christmas.  Now that I’m a grandmother I’m sharing my love of the Peanuts characters with my granddaughter, Ava.  It has become family tradition to watch Charlie Brown try to find the “the true meaning of Christmas” each year.

One of the Peanuts items I love at Christmas time is the Peanuts Wooden Train Set. I put the little train on my dining room table and my guests always comment on how cute it is.

Train Set Includes:

The train is made of wood rather than plastic so it is durable.  The colors are bright and my two-year-old granddaughter loves to come over and play with it when she comes to visit.

Not only does Ava love my train set but she loves being decked out in her Peanuts t-shirts which feature Snoopy and his friends.  She loves the characters on the front of them.  The t-shirts are reasonably priced and oh so cute.

Every weekend my husband and I spend a day with Ava.  This weekend we headed over to my mothers for Sunday dinner.   Ava and I decided to both wear our Peanuts tee-shirts.  Ava chose a Christmas inspired shirt while Ava insisted that I wear my Snoopy sweat shirt.  She loves when grandma dresses like her.

While we waited for dinner to be served Ava insisted that I read her new favorite book to her, “A Charlie Brown Christmas – The Making Of A Tradition.”  The book details the making of one of the most loved holiday specials, A Charlie Brown Christmas.  It is beautifully illustrated with more than 200 colorful pieces of art work and scores of the music.

Like many of my Christmas books I have kept over the years this book is a beautiful keepsake that you will be reading for years to come.  The book is available for purchase at Amazon.

When you are holiday shopping, don’t forget, this holiday season Kohl’s Departments Stores is offering classic Peanuts storybooks and plush toys of the beloved characters Snoopy, Woodstock, Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Linus for just $5 each that will leave the entire family grinning from ear to ear. Through the Kohl’s Cares® program, 100 percent of the net profit from the collection supports children’s health and education initiatives nationwide. $5 each, available at Kohl’s stores and kohls.com.

Another great gift idea is the Peanuts Holiday DVD 3-pack – The holidays just aren’t the same without Charlie Brown and the gang. The animated Peanuts classics are now all together, fully remastered and with additional content and bonus material! Set includes A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1992/22 min.), A Charlie Brown Christmas (1973/25 min.) and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966/25 min.). No family’s collection is complete without this set. Available at Amazon.com, $29.98

Another favorite of mine is the – “Snoopy Doghouse Edition” of A Charlie Brown Christmas CD – This remastered and expanded CD edition of A Charlie Brown Christmas is the perfect gift for any dedicated Peanuts fan. Along with Guaraldi’s classic original album (rendered in crystal-clear 24-bit stereo from the original analog tapes), this reissue contains three bonus tracks (“Greensleeves,” “Great Pumpkin Waltz,” and “Thanksgiving Theme”) and a 20-page booklet filled with iconic images from the program and in- depth liner notes by Guaraldi historian Derrick Bang, author of Vince Guaraldi at the Piano. This new edition disc is housed in a customized sleeve that folds out to form a replica of Snoopy’s colorfully decorated domicile and comes with cut- out replicas of the Peanuts gang — Linus, Lucy, Snoopy, and Charlie Brown himself — with stands for each figure so the entire package can sit beneath the tree while A Charlie Brown Christmas spins on the CD player. What better way to merrily celebrate the holidays? $13.98, available at amazon.com

The Holiday Season is a special time for me and for most people because it allows us to revisit our fondest childhood memories in the company of family and friends. For me, having a grandchild with whom to share Thanksgiving and Christmas is not only delightful in its own right but gives me the opportunity to take the traditional symbols I enjoy and pay them forward. The Peanuts characters provide an unbroken stream of happy memories and holiday joy that extend from my generation right through to Ava’s.

Disclaimer: Tourist Meets Traveler has not received any payment as a result of this review. We were sent the products for the purposes of review.  All opinions are our own.