Reading, PA to Embrace It’s ‘Charlie Brown Tree’

As so many cities and towns are doing or have already done their holiday celebrations with big full trees...here is one that is a little different. Reading, Pennsylvania is embracing the Charlie Brown-esque Christmas tree it once rejected. 

Officials in Reading are planning a Charlie Brown Day festival Dec. 20 to celebrate and spruce up the city's scrawny, 50-foot Norwegian pine.  Reading officials hope to attract visitors who have followed the tree's saga.  The city still plans to decorate the tree Saturday with a single red ornamental bulb — just like the scrawny tree in the beloved "Peanuts" holiday tale.

More decorations will be added Dec. 20, echoing efforts by Charlie Brown's friends in "A Charlie Brown Christmas."  The community will make the scrawny tree grand with a little extra love.

Reading officials tried replacing the puny pine after residents complained it was ugly but ran into logistical programs and decided to keep it. (AP/ABC)