Every year, several Christmas specials air to the delight of millions. Whether they deal with talking snowmen, outcast reindeer or years where Santa was absent, they’re the hallmark of the Christmas season and (for me anyway) provide some of the fondest memories of the holiday season. But there’s one that’s above all, one that simply cannot be topped in terms of perfection; that is A Charlie Brown Christmas. Is it the finest Christmas special? Yes, though that’s putting it extremely mildly.

Charlie Brown knows how everyone should feel about Christmas, how it’s supposedly the most wonderful time of the year and all that. But he still feels like his usual melancholy self, which Lucy attributes to a lack of involvement. On the spur of the moment, she comes up with a brilliant idea; have Charlie Brown direct their Christmas show. What seems like a simple task soon spirals out of control, but also gives Linus a chance to tell Charlie what the true meaning of Christmas is.

The comic strip Peanuts is nothing short of a tremendous literary achievement, which depicts the time of childhood as one full of tortured emotional moments and endless failures.  Charles M. Schulz work did nothing short of changing the entire paradigm of comic strips, so it seems fitting that the first half-hour adaptation of those characters would do the same to holiday specials. A half-hour show that shows cruel mockery, threats of violence and kids dealing with depression would seem to be the farthest thing from appropriate for Christmas. Yet, we seem to forget that many (myself included) look at Christmas with a sense of dread, with it causing more feelings of isolation and stress than actual joy.

Charlie Brown becomes the perfect representation of such feelings, as his odyssey through realizing the true meaning of Christmas being beautiful in how perfect it’s realized. Every single second contributes to Charlie Brown’s forthcoming epiphany, and each character brings something to the table in this tale.

Really, every moment of A Charlie Brown Christmas raises the bar for all television past, present and future, but it may be the ending that just clinches this special as the pinnacle of it’s medium. Charlie Brown’s brief optimism being dashed by “killing” his Christmas tree is heartbreaking, destroying the expected character arc conclusion the special seemed to be building towards. As the fellow trots away, the other kids come over to the tree, with no one showing expression or really any definitive emotions until Linus uses his blanket to prop the tree up, noting how all it needs is love. As everyone puts decorations on it, Lucy remarks how Charlie Brown truly did get a good tree in the end, which causes everyone to sing the hymn “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing!”

Here, Charlie Brown finally see’s victory, as he reenters the scene to the sight of his friends and his tree. He now knows the true meaning of this holiday, why we celebrate it, why we need it. Interestingly, this sequence radiates why we also need this special; it shows the tragedy and glee that permeate the season skillfully and with equal doses of humor and gravitas. I can’t imagine any Christmas season being complete without seeing this extraordinary special.