Making (and reliving) childhood memories with Snoopy and the Peanuts gang

When I was in preschool, Mommy gave me a red lunch bag with Woodstock and Snoopy prints. I remember being happy because I knew I'd be in school briefly. After all, the bag only had some snacks and a juice box. Back in my senior year of high school (and/or freshman year in uni), on the other hand, I ate more than 20 McDonald's Happy Meals to collect the Snoopy World Tour toys. I was so happy because I got several pieces featuring different traditional attire. Mommy threw those toys out soon after she saw my growing collection; kulatsang ("junk"), she used to call them. It was a sad day because I had spent a huge chunk of my allowance to get those toys. However, Mommy was teaching me a life lesson at that point (i.e., do not accumulate junk). Suffice it to say that I had encountered Snoopy in various childhood moments.

And my encounters with Snoopy did not end there. Decades later, I coincidentally selected a pediatric dentist whose practice features Snoopy and the Peanuts characters!

Because Snoopy is a part of my childhood (and now of Donan's), I was elated to learn that a museum features the comic strips made by Snoopy and Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz. Val and I had taken Donan to Healdsburg and intended to swing by the museum last year. However, Donan was too young to appreciate it, so we skipped the museum.

This year, though, Donan's old enough to be aware of the characters and might be excited to see the many depictions of Snoopy. And so we went there after football class, bringing Mommy, Daddy, and Anna along.

Photo grabbed from the Sonoma County Now website.

I didn't realise just how deeply ingrained Snoopy and friends are in American culture. Snoopy has been associated with NASA since the Apollo Space Programme. There's a series about Snoopy becoming an astronaut as well! Snoopy's creative imagination and his lack of need to seek approval for his imaginary adventures appeal to Americans' sense of individuality. The other characters were reflections of stereotypes of children one might see in school.

I didn't realise until we went to the museum how popular Snoopy and the Peanuts characters are in other countries. Then, I found a book entitled "Anong Say Mo, Snoopy?" (What say you, Snoopy?) intended for the Philippine market!

 

We also enjoyed the back-to-school exhibit featuring an old-fashioned classroom, a school bus, several lunch boxes, and a brown bag. They all reminded me of the stories I read in grade school because many of the illustrations were similar to the scenes depicted in the exhibit. 

My favourite part of the museum is the workshop. We all sat at a table and worked on different projects: we coloured some drawings, folded paper into Snoopy's doghouse, and created comic strips. This space was a calming retreat for a family with kids after the onslaught of colours, sounds, and activities in the main museum space.

We will visit again one day. In the meantime, we'll brush up on our knowledge of the Peanuts gang by watching the cartoons on Apple TV.