A Charlie Brown Christmas

Listen, I'm as tired of stuff that mashes up two things that nerds like into one chimera of presumed awesomeness as everyone else is, but every now and then, that rare thing comes along that's just really, really well done and well worth seeing. Today, we have one of those: Leigh Lahev and Oren Mendez's Merry Christmas, Will Byers. The animated short is, of course, a mashup that parodies Stranger Things and the classic A Charlie Brown Christmas, but what sets it apart from your average It's Two Things project (aside from not being a t-shirt) is that it's really, really well done, and also builds to a pretty great punchline. Take three minutes and give it a watch!

This year marks the 50th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas, the 1965 television special that combined Charles Schulz's Peanuts characters, the jazzy music of the Vince Guaraldi Trio, and an honest look at the melancholy of the season, to become one of the most beloved and enduring holiday specials ever. It's a big anniversary, and that makes this year a better time than than most to talk about how it all came together. The folks at Mashable have done just that with a look behind the scenes of the television special, including animation cels and an original script page that are more than worth your time to check out.