The Lessons of Charlie Brown

If I’ve learned nothing else from countless viewings of A Charlie Brown Christmas, it’s that even the scrawniest, most forlorn reject of a tree can be made to look good, if you heap on enough ornaments and lights.

As it turns out, that’s an important lesson this year. We put off getting a tree until December 16 – yesterday, as I write this, and also the birthday of Ludwig van. A full nine days before the holiday.

We assumed we had plenty of time. Wrong. When we ventured out to buy a tree, the selection was abysmal. Few were left, and those that were available were gaunt and dried out. The weakest of the herd. The least desirable. The sorts of trees Charlie Brown would choose.

And yet we were lucky those few were even there. We found these rejects at the second lot we visited. The first lot was completely sold out – not even a stray pine needle on the ground, as if they’d sold the last tree and cleaned the place days before.

So we were lucky to find what we did. The tree sellers understood the substandard quality of their product, and that we were settling, reluctantly, for the runt of the litter. So they gave us a big discount on the tall but threadbare tree we selected.

If nothing else, we got a deal.

I know, I know. Not exactly a Christmas miracle. And we know, from those innumerable viewings of A Charlie Brown Christmas, that piling on the trinkets is enough to bring out the full splendor of even the most unlikely tree.

Happy Holidays!