There is a scene in A Charlie Brown Christmas that I consider to be a contender for the most-influential moment of my childhood. It may only fall short of the first time I heard The White Album and when Aaron Boone showed me to never take anything for granted.

From public pleas to my peers for their participation in our publication, to the point I brought up last week that it’s Apple users versus everyone else, the message of this segment finds its way into my daily thought process, admittedly sometimes without my knowing, more than anything from a cartoon should.

The scene is in the opening minutes of the holiday feature. Charlie Brown, who at the time was a representation of what Charles Schultz didn’t see in youth culture, goes to his mailbox. It should be filled with Christmas cards and greetings, but instead is completely empty.

“Hello in there…” The mailbox echoes his salutation and he leaves empty-handed. Then, as no one does except if on screen, Charlie Brown starts to talk to himself out loud about what he’s just experienced.

If walking in a snowstorm alone wasn’t heart-wrenching enough for the audience, “Rats. Nobody sent me a Christmas card today.”

He then forces the dagger in deeper, “I almost wish there weren’t a holiday season. I know nobody likes me.”

Schultz was, and still is, an over-shadowed master of writing emotional highs and lows. He was scripting layered dialogue for his caricatures ahead of his time; differently from Bambi and other Disney staples, and long before audiences were enthralled with the complexity of Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant.

While you can’t see yourself coming back from this display of self-pity, you’re picked up again in the only way that works, a simple and comedic reflection of the month itself.

“Why do we have a holiday season to emphasize it?” says Brown.

Almost instantly, the audience is delivered a relatable message within that simple idea: Christmas is too commercial.

Schultz used Charlie Brown as a tool to tell a larger story throughout his works. Brown was a representation of what was missing in the culture at that time. He was odd and unpopular, meaning audiences could sympathize with him, but longed for a simpler life, without the inequalities and complexities that were ever-present both then and now.

It’s a story in which I find myself reflecting upon frequently, if not too often. I’ve spent, or arguably wasted, countless hours of my thinking time debating whether or not the media has grown too powerful, how much credence corporations put into consumer habits and if we’re making sound political decisions.

A script that was written in the early 1960s is relevant during the 2011 holiday season for a reason. Before the country saw the problems that eventually developed within the holidays themselves, the ‘Peanuts’ creator was there to predict them.

The commercialization of Christmas, as seen in the cartoon, was just the first of many celebratory days to be fueled by retail sales.

It opened the door for Valentine’s Day to become the biggest cash cow for gift manufacturers. Find me a jewelry store that isn’t running a promotional campaign in early February and I’ll deliver copies of this publication to your door for the next year.

There is no reason that Hallmark should be dictating what is important on our calendars. I feel bad for someone who is born on or around Christmas because their birthday might as well not exist.

This special is a classic, but not because it is a cute and extended version of the comic strip, but because it has a clear message that people have forgotten what is important and have become part of the consumerist cycle.

We no longer have someone like Schultz to remind us, albeit through Linus, what “Christmas is all about… ,” but we can wait. Most have realized it’s too late to turn back, so we can only adjust our behavior accordingly. I’m sure that’s all that Schultz would ask for.

By the end of the special, Charlie Brown realizes that the true meaning of the holiday is only hidden and that remains true today.

This is the season of giving and we can’t forget that. Take some time in the next few weeks to reflect on what the holidays are really about, even if you can only fit it in between trips to department stores.

That’s enough venting for today. Enjoy your holiday, I’ll see you next year. Good grief.