RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. You know the tree from the "Charlie Brown Christmas" special - too scrawny to support more than one red ball. This year, the city of Reading, Pennsylvania, chose a tree that reminded people of that. It was tall, but so sparse, people mocked it and called for a replacement. So the city removed the decorations and then decided to keep the tree. They're decorating it with a single red bulb - a reminder, they hope, of the real spirit of Christmas. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.