A Charlie Brown Christmas after the special first aired, they were no longer being regularly manufactured. The "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree" has been used to comedic effect with people familiar with the special and has become synonymous with poorly executed or minimalist Christmas decorating. A model of the tree is offered by various retailers. Three lesser-known Christmas specials were produced decades after the 1965 original. A Charlie Brown Christmas A Charlie Brown Christmas is a 1965 animated television special based on the comic strip "Peanuts", by Charles M. Schulz. Produced by Lee Mendelson and directed by Bill Melendez, the program made its debut on
A Lively Christmas Eve that reminded him of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner". He also noted that it was the only pre-1989 East German picture to make a satirical reference to the Stasi. Joe Perry, who researched the Christmas costumes in Germany, considered "Ach, du Fröhliche..." as an example to the SED's attempt to uphold the holiday's traditions as a time of familial bonding while completely rejecting any religious connotation. A "Socialist miracle" of reconciliation between oneself and the leading ideology replaced the Christian-inspired one. The film presented the Christmas costumes of East Germany, that were a readjustment of the old tradition: the fir