We’ve all heard Charlie Brown’s
THE GREAT PUMPKIN
which
hard to believe
came out in 1959. . .

The Great Pumpkin is a holiday figure in whom only Linus van Pelt believes. According to Linus, the Great Pumpkin flies around bringing toys to sincere and believing children on Halloween evening. Every year, Linus sits in a pumpkin patch (a place Linus believes is the most sincere and lacking in hypocrisy) on Halloween night waiting for the Great Pumpkin to appear. Invariably, the Great Pumpkin fails to turn up, but a humiliated yet undefeated Linus stubbornly vows to wait for him again the following Halloween. Linus acknowledges the similarities between the Great Pumpkin and Santa Claus, the existence of which Linus considers to be ambiguous (in the television special, Linus tells Charlie Brown he’ll stop believing in the Great Pumpkin when Charlie Brown stops believing in Santa Claus, while writing to the Great Pumpkin that Santa Claus has better publicity). Charlie Brown attributes Linus’s belief in the Great Pumpkin to “denominational differences”. . .

My favorite quote from THE GREAT PUMPKIN
is near the end when Linus proclaims:
“THERE ARE THREE THINGS I HAVE LEARNED TO NEVER DISCUSS WITH PEOPLE: RELIGION, POLITICS, AND THE GREAT PUMPKIN.”

There are a lot of lessons that can be learned
walking around in a Pumpkin Patch. . .
There’s lots of different sizes, shapes and forms of age and decline

Maybe one of the greatest one:
WE ARE HERE FOR THE CHOOSING
AND TO BE CHOSEN

A N D

when it’s time to
G O
it’s always better
HAND in HAND