This book followed another called "A Thanksgiving Treasure", which had the same characters, plus an old hermit who lived alone and wanted nothing to do with anyone, much less a little girl.
I read both of these books to my 6th and 4th grade classes for many years, and the kids loved them. BOTH books were also featured as movies, but the Thanksgiving film was never released for sale to the public :-(
All of the "Addie Mills" books were based on happenings that Ms. Rock remembered as a girl growing up in Nebraska.
In the two scenes below, the girls have 'gone shopping' for their teacher's Christmas present. But "Addie" had her eyes on the store's Christmas tree:
Her father had never allowed a Christmas tree in the house, his reason kept secret from "Addie" all those years. Below Grandma tried to reason with him about the tree:
CBS was known, in the old days, for its quality adaptations of literature, be it classic or contemporary. As a child of the 60's and 70's, I remember all of these with great warmth, but none more than "The House Without a Christmas Tree". This is a simply told story, but it shines with an inner light. Lisa Lucas plays Addie, a 10 year old girl who lives with her widowed father and his mother in Clear River, Nebraska during the late 40's. There are true emotions in this film; Addie is hurt by her father's seeming indifference to her, and doesn't understand why he won't buy a tree. He can't bring himself to explain, so these two headstrong people continually clash. Addie's grandmother softens what she can, but her son won't listen to her. He is sometimes cruel to his daughter, to hide his own wounded feelings. He and Addie come to a truce of sorts at the end, but it's not a neatly wrapped up conclusion, and it feels just like a real father-daughter relationship. Jason Robards is devastating as the father. His eyes are so expressive; the pain bleeds out of them, and just as conversely the love he truly does feel for Addie also shows in them. Mildred Natwick is just fine as the grandmother. She is the warm, comfy composite of every grandmother who ever lived, but she also adds a bite to the character that is refreshing. The Nebraska setting does just as much to enhance the story. This was broadcast in 1972 on CBS, and not shown again till Disney picked it up in the very early 80's.
Many "that's just like it was" happenings are in the story, such as when "Billy Wild" shocked "Addie" with a locket for the class gift exchange:
75 minutes in length. The movie has a very high 8.1 out of 10 rating by IMDB voters, out of 267 votes cast.
Available 11-15-10 at Amazon.
