# 5021 - 2015 First-Class Forever Stamp - Contemporary Christmas: Charlie Brown Holding His Tree

U.S. # 5021

2015 49¢ Charlie Brown and Tree

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Contemporary Christmas

Shortly after Charles Schulz introduced the comic strip Peanuts in 1950, Charlie Brown emerged as its main character.  Mild-natured, insecure, often defeated and yet eternally optimistic, Charlie Brown appealed to everyday folks who had also experienced disappointment.

Schulz had envisioned Charlie Brown as “a caricature of the average person.”  Although he only ages from four to eight years old during the comic strip’s 50-year run, Charlie Brown is intelligent and philosophical with good leadership skills.  His tendency to overthink life leads him to procrastinate. This is compounded by his reluctance to start a new day for fear he will spoil it.  Yet Charlie Brown remains hopeful that tomorrow will be a better day, buoyed by the support of his friends. 

These themes of insecurity, philosophy, failure, and optimism led to several running jokes over the years.  They include Lucy and the football, visits to her psychiatrist booth, deep conversations about life at the wall, and Charlie Brown’s baseball team’s never-ending losing streak.  These themes form the heart of A Charlie Brown Christmas, as he searches for the true meaning of the holiday – and ultimately finds it with the help of the other members of the Peanuts gang. 

Each of the Charlie Brown Christmas stamps features a still taken from A Charlie Brown Christmas.  Art director Antonio Alcalá designed the stamps.

Value: 49¢ 1-ounce first-class letter rate

Issued:  October 1, 2015 – 1 day before the 65^th anniversary of the first Peanuts comic strip

First Day City:  Santa Rosa, CA – at the Charles M. Schulz Museum

Type of Stamp: Commemorative


Printed by: Banknote Corporation of America for Sennett Security Products

Method: Offset printing in double-sided booklets 20


Perforation: Serpentine Die Cut 10 ¾  

Self-Adhesive

Quantity Printed: 50,000,000 stamps

In addition to marking the 65^th anniversary of the first Peanuts comic strip, these stamps marked the 50^th anniversary of the first airing of A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965.  This set was the second issue to honor the Peanuts.  The first came in 2007 (#3507) and pictured Snoopy atop his doghouse dressed as a World War I fighter ace.

These stamps were also issued for National Stamp Collecting Month and continued the long tradition of non-religious Christmas stamps.  The very first U.S. Christmas stamp was issued in 1962.