The Time When a Draft Dodger Visited the Bunkers for Christmas Dinner

As a child of the '60s and '70s, I've always appreciated Nick at Nite and TV Land for celebrating the television fare I grew up with. I don't watch much TV of any type these days, and I didn't watch a whole lot after about the 10th grade. But I do enjoy the old shows, which take us back to a simpler time and provide a virtual escape from today's challenges. 

A few years ago, TV Land put together its Top 10 Holiday Moments from the shows of the classic television era. Included in the list were moments from The Andy Griffith Show, Sanford and Son, Cheers and several TV specials including The Andy Williams Christmas Show and A Charlie Brown Christmas. The list also included an especially emotional episode of All in the Family, which featured a Christmas visit from a friend of Mike Stivic's who was dodging the draft in Canada:

It's worthwhile remembering that the deep divisions we see among Americans today are not wholly new. We've had divisions before. However, we seemed to have enough in common to overcome or at least overlook the divisions of the past. It seems different somehow, today. Perhaps we can look to the holiday spirit to put things in some perspective and agree that there still is much more that unites us than the things that divide us.

Watch TV Land's Top 10 Holiday Moments