In the midst of the deluge of more and more things to occupy our time and distance ourselves from more wholesome times, a piece of news comes along that should brighten the day of those with some flecks of snow on the roof.

Peanuts Worldwide, the newly formed joint venture between Iconix Brand Group (Nasdaq: ICON) and Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates has announced that it has signed a new five year deal with ABC Network for the PEANUTS animated holiday specials. The Emmy Award winning specials, including the "A Charlie Brown Christmas," "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," created by Charles M. Schulz and produced and animated by Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez, began airing on ABC in December 2001.

"The PEANUTS holiday TV specials are iconic and represent a family tradition of watching Charlie Brown and the gang kick off the holiday season," stated Neil Cole, CEO, Iconix Brand Group. Cole added, "This new deal with ABC demonstrates the continued relevance of the PEANUTS brand as it celebrates its 60th anniversary."

This fall, the PEANUTS comic strip will celebrate its 60th anniversary. The first and most well known of the animated holiday specials, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" first aired on television in 1965, marking this year as its 45th anniversary.

Since moving to ABC nine years ago, the specials have continually delivered stellar ratings for the Network.

On October 2, 1950 the PEANUTS comic strip launched in seven American newspapers. Nearly 60 years later, the comic strip appears in over 2,200 newspapers, in 75 countries and 21 languages. PEANUTS animated specials have become a seasonal tradition and it's good to know they will have a home for the next five years. Let's hope that after that some things continue to remain sacred.