Peanut always prepares for the holidays, celebrating in their strips and animated TV specials, with Thanksgiving being one of the most famous Peanut holidays. Never failing to address Thanksgiving in his comics, Peanut has all characters participate in Turkey Day festivities. Even characters who aren’t part of the main cast, like Snoopy’s brother Spike, were included in Thanksgiving stories.
Whether it’s about food or family, Peanut looks for Thanksgiving inspiration in his November comics. Given that Thanksgiving was such a popular holiday to celebrate in comic books, an animated TV special was only a matter of time, especially after the huge success of the Halloween TV special. As a result, Peanut became forever intertwined with the Thanksgiving holiday.
10
“They should give you a turkey”
November 23, 1999
Rerun has her own way of seeing the world, something that tends to irritate Lucy. Lucy tells Rerun to say Happy Thanksgiving if they meet anyone, to which Rerun thinks that if someone gets a Happy Thanksgiving, they should get a turkey or even a pumpkin pie possibly. Rerun tends to think like his older brother Linus and expects his own rules for the holidays, like Linus with the Great Pumpkin and Rerun with his free turkeys for saying “Happy Thanksgiving”. Lucy has another younger brother who has unorthodox views on fall break. Although she normally scolds Linus endlessly, this comic shows that she is a bit more patient with her younger brother, correcting him without resorting to yelling as she normally does with Linus. As a result, giving a somewhat contrasting treatment between his two brothers.
9
“He didn’t think anyone cared”
November 27, 1952
Snoopy loves to eat. It is one of his best-known features alongside his joyful dancing, alter egos and friendship with Woodstock. As a result, Snoopy becomes sad on Thanksgiving when he thinks no one cared about him enough to bring him some Thanksgiving treats. A happy surprise for Snoopy awaits him when good old Charlie Brown brings him some turkey to eat, delighting the little dog and bringing him out of his sad state. Few owners, especially those over the age of eight, would be so considerate as to go out of their way to bring their dogs a few pieces of turkey from Thanksgiving dinner. Although Snoopy is grateful for Charlie Brown’s kindness in this earlier moment, Peanut strip, wouldn’t last long, with Snoopy becoming decidedly less grateful as the years went by.
8
“Dog food”
November 28, 1996
In the Needles Desert, Spike talks to his friend the cactus about a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, which for Spike, a dog, includes some dog food. Most people’s Turkey Day dinner wouldn’t include Alpo, but Spike isn’t most people. In fact, he is not people, he belongs to the canine family. With no one else to talk to in the desert, he talks to whoever or whatever he can, then spends Thanksgiving with his best friend, the cactus. Since Spike has experienced traditional Thanksgiving dinners before, he’s the expert between himself and a cactus, which isn’t saying much, but it’s still an achievement for Spike. Talking about all the delicious food that’s served at Thanksgiving is sure to make Spike hungry, but he’ll have no luck hunting any of that food in his desert exile.
7
“No one will mistake you for a turkey”
November 23, 1976
To avoid being eaten on Thanksgiving, Snoopy lends Woodstock one of his most famous disguises (when has Snoopy ever worn a mustache?) so that no one thinks Woodstock is a turkey. Instead of putting the piece of fake hair on his face, Woodstock opts to put the fake mustache on his head. Given Woodstock’s diminutive stature, he would need a mustache the size of a blade of grass, so it makes sense that he would consider putting the hairpiece on his head rather than his face. Whether Woodstock has a fake mustache on his face or on top of his head, people won’t mistake him for a turkey. Then again, no one would have thought Woodstock was a turkey. Woodstock’s wig is good just to be safe, of course, with him becoming an emerging master of disguise.
6
“Suddenly a turkey rang”
November 22, 1983
Lucy decides to give Snoopy the great idea of ​​writing a Thanksgiving story. Given that Snoopy sees himself as the world-famous author, writing a Thanksgiving story shouldn’t be too difficult a task for him. However, this is not the case, as seen by Snoopy beginning his stories as he always begins them, with the words, “It was a dark and stormy night,” but gives a Thanksgiving twist by throwing a turkey into the mix. Snoopy at least realizes that his Thanksgiving story isn’t top-notch and throws it in the trash, showing some self-awareness from the beagle who usually has his head up in the clouds. Although it’s heartwarming to see Snoopy take Lucy’s advice for a change instead of arguing with her like they usually do.
5
“These people eat rabbits!”
November 27, 1975
In a storyline where Spike invites Snoopy to go to Needles to spend Thanksgiving with him, Snoopy goes on a trip to the desert to see his brother. Unfortunately for Snoopy, Spike ends up getting worried about Snoopy and goes to Charlie Brown’s house. Not only do the brothers not spend Thanksgiving together, but Snoopy is alone on Thanksgiving in the desert. In this strip, receiving Thanksgiving dinner with all of Charlie Brown’s fixings, Spike is living it up with Charlie Brown for now, a far cry from the desert-dwelling beagle’s normal routine. Meanwhile, Snoopy is stranded in the desert on Thanksgiving, near rabbit-eating coyotes, having a miserable holiday, to say the least. Turns out it was a really crappy Thanksgiving for Snoopy, where he is absolutely disgusted by the rabbit-eating habits of the neighborhood coyotes.
4
“A Dance of Joy”
November 26, 1970
Telling what they are thankful for on Thanksgiving, Snoopy and Woodstock do a Thanksgiving Dance, or also known as the dance of joy. One thing that makes Woodstock especially happy enough to dance to is that it tastes horrible with cranberry sauce, which saves it from being part of the Thanksgiving dinner, literally a part of the Thanksgiving meal. While it’s quite common to see Snoopy do a happy dance, or a joy dance in this case, it’s rare to see Woodstock do a happy dance as well. Consequently, the reader realizes the joy and relief that Woodstock feels in this moment with Snoopy. Woodstock’s fear of being eaten on Thanksgiving occurs annually, with this year in particular being one where he finally doesn’t feel the need to worry.
3
“The best part is when they carve the bird”
November 25, 1981
When Linus tells Sally about the food he is excited to eat for Thanksgiving at his grandmother’s house, he emphasizes his excitement about eating the turkey. There’s one eavesdropping bird who isn’t a fan of Linus’ love of turkeys: Woodstock, who decides to kick Linus to convey his disapproval. Thanksgiving is a tricky time of year for Woodstock, needless to say. Always getting stressed around the fourth Thursday of November, Woodstock remains perpetually nervous until Thanksgiving comes and goes. Linus may think carving the turkey is the best part, but for the avian Woodstock it’s something out of a horror movie and a cautionary tale for birds everywhere. No doubt when November rolls around, Woodstock will wish he were a dog or a cat instead of a bird, which in his mind are all on the brink of danger.
2
“Thanksgiving is over”
November 26, 1992
When Snoopy scares Woodstock about what kind of animals they eat for Thanksgiving, the two become nervous about anything involving Thanksgiving dinner, even when Charlie Brown invites them to the family festivities. As a result, once the holiday paranoia has passed, Snoopy lifts his dinner plate to reveal that he was hiding Woodstock to save him from being eaten on Thanksgiving. The dynamic duo is victorious in their mission to save Woodstock from being a side dish at Thanksgiving dinner, not that that was a real threat of happening anyway. Regardless, they celebrate surviving another Thanksgiving together and intact. The fact that Snoopy let Woodstock hide under his dinner plate says how worried Snoopy was about his friend, because the beagle is very picky about his meals and the container they arrive in.
1
“Don’t hang near Turkey”
November 19, 1985
Charlie Brown keeps trying to sell Christmas wreaths, even though it’s before Thanksgiving. The Charlie Brown sales pitch response to the prospect’s valid concerns that all the needles on the wreath will fall off before Christmas even arrives is to simply not put the wreath near the turkey. Fair enough, Charlie Brown; no one wants pine needles in their turkey bites. No matter how much Charlie Brown tries to convince her to buy a Christmas wreath, he probably won’t make the sale. It’s no news that Charlie Brown isn’t successful in his sales, having to keep knocking on doors to try to get rid of some of those Christmas wreaths. Eventually, Charlie Brown’s door-to-door technique earns him a lecture from Franklin about how he is contributing to the overcommercialization of Christmas.