Peanuts Happy Holidays
Chapter 1
Putting Up the Tree
"Gee Chuck, can't you ever choose a good Christmas tree from a poor one?" Peppermint Patty questioned as she grabbed the tree ornaments.
"This little green one here seems to need a home" Charlie Brown responded, placing the pint sized tree on the red piano.
"Don't make me remind you what Christmas is all about" Linus Van Pelt called out from snuggling with a cup of hot cocoa in the company of Marcie, much to Sally's annoyance.
"Don't make me remind me that you're my Sweet Baboo!" the blonde girl yelled angrily.
"Good grief you two…Charles, do you have the Christmas decorations yet?" the bespectacled girl asked, sipping her cup of cocoa.
"Not yet, half of these ornaments won't even support the tree's weight anyways" the lovable looser sighed in despair.
"How about some Christmas music, gang?" Schroeder questioned as he looked around the room.
"Play some Jingle Bells, Schroeder" Lucy requested as the piano was pulled out from under her.
"Schroeder!" Charlie yelled in anger as he picked up the fallen tree, "the branches are all broken" he sighed.
"Well I don't play Jingle Bells, especially not for Lucy anyways," Schroeder explained in humiliation. "Sorry about ruining your tree, Charlie Brown" he added, blushing a vivid pink.
"It's okay, Schroeder…I'll fix it" the lovable looser reassured, calming himself down.
"More like goof it up even more" Lucy snickered to herself.
"What'd you say about Charles?" Marcie asked bitterly.
"That blockhead is going to ruin that tree even more," the fussbudget added, ignoring Marcie's question.
"Remain calm, Marcie" Linus comforted, as Peppermint Patty told him about how aggressive she could get.
"I'm just on the tip of my iceberg, Linus" the bespectacled girl responded, clenching her teeth together.
"You have an iceberg?" Sally asked, cocking her head in confusion.
"It's a metaphor, Sally; it just means that Marcie is about to punch out Lucy's lights if she insults your brother one more time" the blanket carrying boy explained.
"Isn't he the cutest thing?" the blonde girl asked her friend, Eudora.
"He sure is" the girl with the navy blue hat agreed, sipping her hot cocoa with a very slight smile.
"Well let's try to decorate the tree now" Charlie called out to the kids.
"I got my blanket" Linus squealed as he wrapped the outing flannel around the tree's planks of wood.
"Here's some strings of lights!" Peppermint Patty added, balancing an ornament on her foot.
"And Snoopy has the Christmas star" Charlie announced as Snoopy walked in, dressed as Santa.
"Ho! Ho! Ho!" the beagle chuckled as he placed the star on top of the shabby tree.
"Meh…needs work" Lucy explained.
"Actually, Lucy, Christmas joy is found in the simplest things" Linus reminded his sister as he placed some candy canes on the branches that didn't fall over and break.
"He's right, Lucille" the tomboy explained as she looked over at Charlie, placing a red ornament on a right branch, making the tree slouch over.
"I killed it!" he announced, "Everything I touch gets ruined" the failure sighed.
"I never thought it was such a bad little tree, Charles" Marcie reassured.
"It's not bad at all; really…maybe we just need to show it a little love…" Linus suggested as they prepared the tree.
"Charlie Brown is a blockhead" Lucy began, looking at Marcie, who was getting irritated. "But he did manage to get a good tree" the fussbudget continued, calming the bespectacled girl.
"It is?!" Charlie Brown asked, smiling as Patty hugged him.
"You bet, Chuck" she explained, "you're holding my hand, Chuck, you sly dog…" Patty flirted lovingly.