Ugly Christmas Tree Ruins Pennsylvania Town's Holiday Spirit

CRAPPY HOLIDAYS: Ugly Christmas Tree Has Town Screaming 'Humbug!'

Residents in Reading, Pennsylvania., are feeling Grinchy over an ugly Christmas tree that many say is ruining the town's holiday spirit.

"It's nasty. It's pathetic and they shouldn't have it here," one resident, who was not identified, told WFMZ. "If there was a squirrel here looking for a place to live for the winter, it wouldn't even go into this tree."

"I know Reading is not doing too great," Martin McNeil, who works near the tree, told WFMZ's Dwayne Parker, "but facing this tree up here is making it even worse."

Lights hang off the spindly, 50-foot Norwood spruce like a garish holiday sweater that's two sizes too big. It is topped with a lighted pretzel, to celebrate the town's baking tradition. Many of the tree's branches have fallen to the ground.

The Associated Press reports that the hideous tree, which stands at the heart of downtown Reading, was a last-minute replacement that came from a city park.

The city had planned to get its tree from a farm, but the owner wouldn't let the crews drive on the wet ground when they went to pick it up. Scheduling prevented delaying the city's tree-lighting ceremony, which left residents less than thrilled.

A group lead by the city council president is raising money to buy and decorate a more suitable tree.

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