To mark 50 years of A Charlie Brown Christmas airing on American televisions, our readers are sharing photos and memories of Christmas trees that reflect the spirit of that TV classic: a bit forlorn, perhaps, but full of heart.
If you're catching up, the Two-Way and Morning Edition asked our audience to post images using the tag #sadtree on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
As we noted Monday, ABC is airing A Charlie Brown Christmas twice this month: on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 8:30 p.m. ET, and two weeks later, at 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 16.
Here's a selection of our favorite submissions.
We are shamelessly embarrassing our Pomeranian, Latte, and bringing out the "modern spirit" of Christmas! #sadtree pic.twitter.com/eH8UpFGoL5
— lindsey gelormini (@LinzPGelormini) December 2, 2014
In our original post, we also asked for the stories behind the trees — and a memory shared in the comment section of our original post resonated with many readers:
"We moved across the country to CA right out of college in the 80s. Our first Christmas on the west coast found us living in a studio apartment with little money. We bought a small but adequate tree on the street corner and set it up in the apartment. Now how do we decorate it? We decided to invite all of our friends over for a party. Price of admission was one decoration for the tree. My wife (g.f. at the time) cut a star out of cardboard and wrapped it in foil.
"That party became an annual tradition. Eventually, we stopped encouraging people to bring decorations as we had acquired plenty. But even now, three decades later, we still have the star and the ornaments brought by our guests. They are always carefully placed in conspicuous locations on the tree."
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