It is indeed.

That aired December 9th, 1965.

It was watched by 15 million Americans as Linus.

The Peanuts character reads from the Gospel of Luke chapter 2.

And this is what one of the journalists said about it.

This was unusual among

Christmas specials, directly and overtly relating the religious nature of the holiday.

The producer was concerned that it would make it controversial, and the network had its qualms.

Many were anxious about it and thought it would not be successful. But Charles Schultz insisted that the

true meaning of Christmas should be captured in the biblical story of the birth of Jesus.

Schultz's faith was deep and personal, and he asked the producer, if we don't do it, who will?

And the results were that half of Americans that were watching TV that night tuned into the special.

It's been shown year after year, every year since then, over 60 years, and it's been watched by hundreds of millions of people seeing the true

meaning of Christmas.

It is one of the most viewed shows in the history of television, the Charlie Brown Christmas special. And if you look at what we've

done today with Christmas is we've wrapped it in green and red. We've wrapped it in presents and a pine

tree in the living room, an overweight Scandinavian man in a red suit that comes down the chimney.

We've wrapped it in these stories that we tell. We've wrapped it in mistletoe and wreaths and

Christmas lights. And it seems that we've moved further and further away from God, the

creator of the heavens, the earth,

coming here for us, the greatest gift.

And so we've been in a series here at Harris Creek

...