By Gary Lloyd
TRUSSVILLE — It’s hardly a sapling now.
No longer can passersby glance through their car windows and see the red ribbon and red ornaments at eye level. They must look up.
The tree standing mere feet from North Chalkville Road in Trussville, just past Woodland Acres and just before Green Drive, continues to grow. And so does its legend.
Some say they’ve seen this Trussville tree decorated during the holidays since as early as 1994. Some noticed it around 2000. Others didn’t notice it until four or five years ago. Some, just maybe, still haven’t.
The beauty, all of them say, is that they’ll never really know. The legend of this skinny tree continues to grow as more and more people ask about it. Why is it decorated? How does someone get the bow all the way on top? When is it decorated? Who decorates it?
The “Charlie Brown Christmas tree” in Trussville
photo by Gary Lloyd
All these questions have answers. We just don’t know them.
Several days after Christmas last year, Jane Spearman Sedran posted on the “What’s Happening in Trussville” Facebook page about this, stating that the person who decorates the tree would like to “stay anonymous.” That person asked Sedran to post a message. In part, it reads:
“It has been my pleasure to have decorated the Charlie Brown tree for the past four years and it is even more of a pleasure to see your comments on the fact that you notice the tree. According to Aronov Realty, over 50,000 vehicles pass that section of North Chalkville Road every day. The original Charlie Brown Tree from the story is a scraggly evergreen and when I saw this one I knew it was the right one. Soon after Thanksgiving each year a friend and I meet in the early morning and decorate and then have breakfast. The tree has gotten taller and stronger and this was the first year that we were not able to bend it over. We made use of an extending paint pole to hang the decorations.”
In the Charlie Brown Christmas story, Charlie Brown decides to get a Christmas tree for a play. Classmates laugh at him when he comes back with a small sapling, the only tree left at the tree market, which Charlie Brown believed would be just right after decorating it. Having been ridiculed, Charlie Brown wonders if he really knows what Christmas is all about as he leaves the auditorium with the tree.
A screenshot of Charlie Brown with his sapling
On the way home, he stops at Snoopy’s decorated doghouse, which is pinned with a first prize blue ribbon for winning the display contest. Charlie Brown takes an ornamental red ball from the doghouse and puts it on his tree, which bends a branch, leaving it unable to stand upright.
“I’ve killed it,” Charlie Brown says as he leaves the tree there.
The rest of the group arrives and reconsiders its previous laughter, choosing to add decorations to the tree, making it look really nice. This surprises Charlie Brown, and the group sings together.
The “Charlie Brown Christmas tree” in Trussville has a similar effect. Some people have said their children look forward to seeing it when they drive on North Chalkville Road. A woman who lives in the Cahaba Project passes it every day and said it makes her smile every time.
Kathy Bowman said she’s seen it for at least the past five years. She’s always wondered who does it. It makes her think of the less fortunate and what a small, decorated tree could mean to them.
“It is nothing elaborate…just simple beauty that means just as much or more if it was decorated for a palace,” Bowman said. “Reminds me to be thankful and brings joy to my heart.”
Bob Davis, who lives in the Cahaba Project, said it seemed like the decorations appeared in the second week of December last year and just after Thanksgiving this year.
“Keeps you guessing,” he said.
Karen Owens said that when she sees the tree decorated every year, she knows it’s time to get in the Christmas spirit.
“It really makes my day to see it and I always look for it,” she said.
Zonia Rosenthal said she thinks the tree represents “exactly the Christmas spirit so many have lost.”
“No store, nothing fancy, just pure kindness and love for humanity,” she said. “We are so lucky to have this in our community.”
Tandi Smith said she loves the tree for the same reasons as Rosenthal.
“There is so much beauty in its simplicity,” she said.
One man commented on a “What’s Happening in Trussville” Facebook page thread about the tree last December.
“All I know is, in 20 years when that tree is huge, I hope someone still decorates it,” he said.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.
