It's a Charlie Brown Christmas for "ugly" Pennsylvania tree

READING, Pa. -- A much-maligned public Christmas tree in Pennsylvania is getting the Charlie Brown treatment.

Officials in Reading say the spindly branches will be decorated with a single red ornamental bulb -- just like the scrawny tree in the beloved "Peanuts" holiday tale, at a ceremony on Dec. 6.

Residents of the small city complained the puny pine with sparse, droopy branches was ugly when it was first erected and topped with a lighted pretzel.

"That tree is not a very good tree for Christmas, sorry," one person said.

"If you look at it, it looks like something you throw out after the season -- not for the season," another resident said.

It turns out the 50-foot spruce was actually a last-minute fill-in after wet grounds prevented crews from reaching the town's first choice.

"This Christmas tree doesn't go with what our city is," Reading city council resident Francis Acosta said.

But when the tree made national headlines, city hall was inundated with calls from around the country from people both pro-tree and anti-tree.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with it," resident Thomas Koch said. "I think it's like the rest of the city, it has great character."

"It sends the wrong message to take down the tree," Reading city council vice president Jeff Waltman said. "The message to the world needs to be that nobody's perfect."

In the end, officials decided they would keep the spruce. It may not be the flashiest, but the town of Reading is embracing it, flaws and all.

"Holiday spirit comes from the heart, not from a pretty or not pretty tree," resident Wendy Lessar said. "We say decorate it up, fill in the gaps and move forward."