The House Without a Christmas Tree

The House Without a Christmas Tree is a 1972 television movie, novelized into a children's book by Gail Rock in 1974, that centers on the relationship between Adelaide "Addie" Mills (Lisa Lucas), a bright and energetic only child, and her melancholy father, James Addison Mills III (Jason Robards). James had never recovered from the death of his wife Helen (Addie's mother), and is bitterly against ever having a Christmas tree in the house. The videotaped production was seen regularly on CBS during the holiday season between 1972 and 1977. Plot synopsis In fictional Clear River, Nebraska in 1946, 10-year-old Addie Mills is a lonely child who wears large horn-rimmed glasses, living in a plain, ordinary house with her widowed father James and her loving paternal grandmother. Addie's mother died from pneumonia a few months after she was born, and her embittered father wonders why his beloved wife had to die rather than their sickly baby. Her first name is taken from her father's middle name, but his only interaction with Addie seems to be in frequent corrections of her. There has never been a Christmas tree in the Mills home since his wife's death, although Addie constantly challenges this omission. Addie finally wins her class Christmas tree in a supervised contest between Gloria Cott and herself...via a guessing technique learned from her father. When she brings the prize home, both she and her grandmother are delighted at the prospect of their first Christmas with a tree. James angrily orders the tree removed; he even accuses Addie of cheating Gloria to win it. His mother speaks up, reminding him that the house belongs to her; he responds by threatening to take Addie and move out, leaving her alone in the house. Late that night, Addie sneaks the tree out of the house and surreptitiously donates it to Gloria—the only other student in her class who also goes treeless at Christmas, since the Cotts are too poor to afford one.