The House Without a Christmas Tree

Andrea, at Under Grace and Over Coffee invites bloggers and blog readers to share their favorite Christmas films today. Click on over to her place to participate and find out who's watching what.




In 1972, when I was 9 years old, a new Christmas movie made for t.v. arrived on the air. The House Without a Christmas Tree, set in 1946 small town, Nebraska, became my new favorite and remains so to this day.


In the opening intro., the now grown up, Addie Mills, begins to narrate the memory of her most special Christmas, as we watch her cut and paste windows on a construction paper house that fades into the real house where she lived years earlier. The story begins in the kitchen, with a grandmother made, pancake breakfast , on a typical day, as her friend stops in to walk with Addie to school.

I love the simplicity of this film, including the cut- out, construction paper house in the intro. and later, the homemade paper chains and foil star that Addie uses to trim her tree, as well as, the pancake breakfast that Addie's grandmother is serving up in the first scene- all reminders of a time when homemade was best.


I haven't had to experience a life without a mother or a hard hearted father, left that way from grief too heavy to bear, but I do relate to Addie's bubbly personality, persistance and ingenuity in coming up with a reasonable explanation for why she should have the forbidden thing, in this case, a Christmas tree.


Addie is just a regular kid living a pretty ordinary life in a small town, but the effect she has on the people who surround her life is extraordinary.

Though I enjoy other bigger budget Christmas films done with actors and actresses much more well known , this is still one of my favorites. This is the first year I have seen it for sale on dvd at the local department store. I'm off right now to see if I can find it today, so I can buy it!