In the 1960s, belovedPeanutscharacter Linus was faced with an unexpected antagonist: his “blanket-hating” grandmother. Hell-bent on making him break the habit, the Van Pelt kids' grandma showed that she was willing to go to extremes to get her grandson to give up his security blanket, in a series of memorable cartoons from the strip’s second decade.
Linus is a fan-favoritePeanutsGang mainstay, and a large part of his enduring popularity is the mix of his deadpan wit, which often made him seem like one of the more maturePeanutscharacters, and his desperate dependence on his security blanket.
First mentioned in the 1960s, Linus’s “blanket-hating” grandmother, as she was referred to in the strip, was featured in several memorable arcs throughout the decade– but eventually, Linus’s blanket stood tall, and remained a fixture of the comic for decades.
10"I’m Laying Out Decoys!"
First Published: June 25, 2025
Almost immediately upon herintroduction toPeanutslore, Linus’s grandma’s distaste for his security blanket became the defining trait of her character, starting with this strip. Here,Charlie Brown finds Linus spreading blankets on the floor throughout his house, which the Van Pelt boy explains are “decoys"that he is setting up to distract his grandma from her real target.
Like all greatPeanutsstorylines, Linus’s “blanket-hating” grandmother started as the premise for one panel; subsequently, creator Charles Schulz identified that there was more to this amusing idea, and proceeded to deliver increasingly escalating elaborations on the joke over the next several years, until he felt that it had run its course. This was perhaps the greatest virtue of Schulz as a writer, and it is aptly exhibited by this minor, off-panel character.
9"She Believes In Butting Into Other People’s Business”
First Published: July 06, 2025
Several years after introducing the concept, Charles Schulzreturned to the “blanket-hating” grandma gag for an extended series of cartoons at the start of 1963. It was here that the character was officially given this moniker, which would follow her through the remainder of her appearances; the name is introduced by Lucy as she explains to Charlie Brown that her grandmother “believes children should be taught self-denial” and “shebelieves in discipline,” and worst of all, “she believes in moral fiber.”
“She believes in butting into other people’s business,” Linus interrupts, stressed at how his insistence on clinging to his blanket is going to be challengedduring this visit. As it turned out, over the next several days, it would lead to another hilarious outburst from the character – and a surprising climax to the arc.
8"I’m Gonna Look Awfully Silly Sucking My Thumb And Holding A Dollar…And I Don’t Feel Very Secure, Either!"
First Published: July 23, 2025
In this cartoon, the true nonmaterial value of Linus’s security blanket is highlighted, as his feud with his grandma escalates to the point of her taking his blanket away;in its place, she gives him a dollar, but what Linus needs is emotional security, not financial security, something his interaction with Charlie Brown makes very clear.
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Of course, adult characters never appeared inPeanutscomics –with the exception of Snoopy’s parents– and that included “blanket-hating” grandma. That said, the presence of adults was felt to varying degrees in differentPeanutsstrips; at times, the Gang’s world felt totally devoid of adult supervision, while in other cases, such as whenPeanutsdepicted its characters in school, that adult presence directly intruded upon their world. This “blanket-hating” grandma storyline represents a particularly notable intrusion on the strip’s status quo, as was the case any time Linus’s blanket was endangered.
7"I Suggested That Perhaps Her Drinking Thirty-Two Cups Of Coffe Was Not Unlike My Need For A Security Blanket"
First Published: July 30, 2025
“She didn’t like the comparison,” Linus tells Charlie Brown, afterexplaining that “everyone” in his family is angry with him, because he equated his grandma’s excessive coffee-drinking to his “need for a security blanket.“This is a stand-out example ofthe way that Charles Schulz balancedLinus’s more advanced behavior and his most child-like qualities. Drawing a connection between his blanket and his grandma’s caffeine consumption is an astute, adult observation – though he lacked the wherewithal to recognize that it wasn’t the time or place to point this out.
Amusingly, this extendedPeanutsarc concluded in the next strip with Linus apologizing to his grandma – who made as close to an appearance on panel as any adult character in the comic’s history, extending Linus’s blanket out to him from a dark room, tacitly acknowledging his observation was right in the process.
6"That’s Always Been The Trouble With Our Family…We Have Too Much Heredity”
First Published: June 03, 2025
In thisPeanutsstrip, Lucyexpresses her own distaste for Linus’s blanket, invoking their “blanket-hating” grandma to contextualize her opinion for her brother. “I agree with her,” Lucy says, as she stomps away, “I guess I must take after her.”
In the final panel,Linus remarks that this has “always been the trouble with [their] family…we have too much heredity.“While he is lamenting that Lucy is too much like their grandma here, it is worth noting – in the context of the previous arc, where Linus called out his grandma for drinking too much coffee – that there is actually a tragic irony to this punchline. In a way, perhaps, Linus’s grandma is trying to subvert her grandson’s inclination toward dependence, something she recognizes in herself.
5"You Invited Blanket-Hating Grandmother Over!”
First Published: June 19, 2025
Building on the previous day’s cartoon, in thisPeanutsstrip,Lucy actually dials up her grandma and begs her to visit, prompting her to come over that very afternoon – which Linus cries is “a vial scheme,” as Lucy laughs maniacally through grit teeth.
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EachPeanutscomic was designed, at least to some degree, to stand on its own, but one of the great things about Charles Schulz' humor was the way he would develop punchlines over successive days. This cartoon was the start of an extended, humorous sequence, in which Lucy calling grandma, and grandma’s ensuing visit, were actually just the incident incidents of the plot, which featured Linus inadvertantly endangering his blanket more than his grandma ever actually did.
4"If It Doesn’t Get Lost In The Mail”
First Published: July 16, 2025
With his grandma on her way, Linus frantically jumps into action in this panel, packing his blanket in an envelope and taking it to a mailbox;as Linus explains to Charlie Brown, he is “mailing it to [himself] in a self-addressed envelope,” so it will be returned to him tomorrow.This was actually acallback to an earlier instance inPeanuts, in which Linus successfully used this maneuver to avoid his grandma’s anti-blanket ire – except this time, it didn’t go so smoothly.
True to Charlie Brown’s prophetic words, Linus’s blanket wound up lost in the mail – prompting a week of comics featuring soul-searching, literal searching, and even a letter to the Postmaster General, as Linus sought to recover his precious security blanket. Ultimately, Charles Schulz paid this off with an all-time great interaction between Linus and Snoopy.
3"I Demand That You Return It Immediately!”
First Published: July 01, 2025
Just when it seemed all hope was lost, and Linus would never be reunited with his blanket,Peanutscreator Charles Schulz revealed that it had actually been mailed to Snoopy’s doghouse by mistake. Hilariously, after his initial elation at having his blanket back,Linus’s flood of emotions emotionally turned to outrage, as he asked “do you mean to tell me that my blanket was delivered to your house by mistake and you weren’t going to let me know?”
Upon demanding the blanket back,Snoopy casually tosses iton Linus’s head. Amazingly, this joke was the pay-off for an extended build, all of which was instigated by the “blanket-hating” grandma premise – showing how far Schulz, as a humorist, could push a joke, and that he often knew exactly how and when to conclude his ongoing gags.
2"I Said I’ll Give Up My Blanket If You’ll Give Up Smoking"
First Published: August 04, 2025
In what is perhapsPeanuts' funniest"blanket-hating" grandma storyline,Linus initially thinks he “put it over on Gramma this time,” as he thinks he’s outwitted her by agreeing to forfeit his blanket if she quits smoking cigarettes – until Lucy leaps into frame and shouts “and she’s going to do it, too,“causing Linus’s hair to stand up on end.
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What makes this especially funny as an individual comic is the way that Linus’s moment of triumph is totally upended within the space of just four panels; beyond that, it is the start of a stretch of cartoons that carried into early September, and featured Linus at perhaps his lowest, while his grandmother proved to have iron resolve.
1"That Gray-Haired Fox Old Rascal!”
First Published: August 11, 2025
In this hilariousPeanutspanel,Linus laments the huge mistake he made in agreeing to surrender his blanket if his grandma stopped smoking, continuing the ongoing storyline that dominated the strip for over a week. “You underestimated her, didn’t you?“Charlie Brown asks his friend. “I sure did,” Linus responds, a look of pure dismay on his face.
Though the plot eventually resolved, and Linus’s status quo with his blanket was restored, the funniest outcome from this “blanket-hating” grandma appearance was the way that it proved how much Linus truly needed his blanket, while his grandmother was able to give up cigarettes with ease. This delightfully skewed perspective was classicPeanuts, which is what makes this recurring character such a memorable part of Linus’s history, and the strip’s in general.
Peanuts
Created by Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts is a multimedia franchise that began as a comic strip in the 1950s and eventually expanded to include films and a television series. Peanuts follows the daily adventures of the Peanuts gang, with Charlie Brown and his dog Snoopy at the center of them. Aside from the film released in 2015, the franchise also has several Holiday specials that air regularly on U.S. Television during their appropriate seasons.
