Movies are a great tradition of the holiday season

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I have finally begun the remorseful and inevitable stage of my life when I look back on my childhood and wish that I had learned from movies like “13 Going on 30” and “Big” instead of wishing that I could be an adult.

I miss the moments when my dad and I would sit on the couch and he would hand me the comic page of the newspaper, and I’d read “Peanuts” while he read the boring sports pages.

I miss my mom dragging both of us out of the living room to come eat Thanksgiving dinner with the rest of the family as Frank Sinatra played in the background.

But I never got the chance to watch the famous “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” like most kids on my block, which is why, before this Thanksgiving break, I decided to finally watch the family classic.

The simplicity of Charles Schultz’s characters and humor makes the franchise memorable for every generation, including ours.

Throughout the holiday special there are reminders of that wonderful period of innocence — playing out in the leaves or walking down the street to a friend’s house or dressing up like pilgrims — that take you back to those warm feelings of home.

You can’t watch movies like “Gravity” or “21 Jump Street” and make memories with the family doing your holiday traditions because they require silence and attention to catch every little piece of stimulation these movies make you believe you need.

I went in watching “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” knowing I would not be enthralled in the same way a Wes Anderson film would entertain me with bright scenes, extremely detailed sets and powerful music — though the Peanuts theme has always been a favorite of mine.

I went into it with the hope that it would take me back to those memories of being with family and watching a movie together ­­– not just people in the same room watching a movie with no interaction.

Watching the same movies every holiday is a testament to the timeless power of tradition and how something as simple as the endearing, kindhearted nature of Charlie Brown, the pettiness of Peppermint Patty or that dog Snoopy can bring me back to my living room in California beside the fire.

It does not matter how many times you watch a movie, when you are with family, having a good time and making memories that you will remember even when you have left home and can’t be with your family, it is an enjoyable time.

While outfit-repeating may be an American fashion taboo, movie-repeating, especially when it is classic holiday movies, will forever be an American holiday tradition.

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