History WesternAnimation / TheChristmasTree

* BigBad: Mrs. Mavilda, the EvilOrphanageLady who happily gambles away the orphanage funds rather than helping the children.

* BigBad: Mrs. Mavilda.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot:
** If the mayor had actually checked to make sure that the donation money was being spent on the orphans' well-being, none of the film's events would have happened.
** As WebVideo/{{Phelous}} points out, Mavilda fires Judy towards the end of the movie, which indicates that there was no need to hatch an elaborate plot framing Judy for theft in order to get rid of her (and it didn't work anyway).

* CoversAlwaysLie: The DVD cover shows the children indoors with a Christmas tree behind them. This tree is not Mrs. Hopewell, but a different one that only appears in the opening scene. [[http://ultimate-omarion.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/o-christmas-tree-vhs-lovely-the-christmas-tree-western-animation-tv-tropes-of-o-christmas-tree-vhs.jpg The VHS cover]] shows Mrs. Hopewell outside, but the children look pretty cute with soft facial features, unlike the Elmer Fudd-like faces the kids have in the film proper.

* EvilOrphanageLady: Ms. Mavilda is a corrupt orphanage owner who wastes all her income gambling rather than helping the orphans.

* HappilyAdopted: All of the orphans, at the end. When the mayor tries to make Judy the new director of the orphanage, her husband interjects that they will adopt all of the children instead.

* SantaClaus: Shows up at the very end, having saved the kids who went to search for him and apparently strikes down Mrs. Mavilda with a BoltOfDivineRetribution as well. Of course, as noted by WebVideo/{{Phelous}}, the movie seems to confuse Santa with Jesus, including having the kids follow the '''Star of Bethlehem''' to find him. Assuming it wasn't a commentary on how Santa resembles the Abrahamic God.

* ThousandYardStare: Judy and especially Ray unintentionally appear to be permanently shell shocked for the whole movie. It doesn't help that Judy, for some reason, NEVER opens her eyes completely. The animators must've run out of white.

* UnfortunateNames: Judy's son is named Pappy, which is traditionally a nickname for a grandfather. This is rather silly considering he's a young boy; ''hopefully'' it's supposed to be a nickname for something, but we never learn what. Nobody points this out in the film, though.

* AnAesop: "You always win when you are good."

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: The town where the movie is set is apparently on the same landmass as the North Pole, at least according to a map the children consult later in the story, and is close enough to said town to be walked to. Assuming it takes place on our earth this is impossible; the North Pole is in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, not on any sort of land. And even if it's simply meant to be interpreted as the place where Santa lives rather than the ''actual'' physical North Pole, for it to be anywhere near that area the setting would be far more harshly cold and barren than it's shown to be.

* CluelessAesop: The ending promptly shoehorns in "You always win when you are good" as the moral of the tale Mrs. Mavilda learns. Putting aside the idea that you will eventually get what you want if you're a good person, in the story's context it makes no sense because the story was resolved by a DeusExMachina courtesy of Santa striking Mrs. Mavilda with lightning. Can she truly have been said to have learned anything when her reformation is probably due to brain damage from being electrocuted?

** Then there's the group of kids saying "Oh, no!" so flat you'd think they'd been smoking a pound of weed beforehand.

* EvilIsPetty: Mrs. Mavilda apparently considers torturing the children and ruining their happiness favorable to keeping the money given to her by the Mayor.
* EvilOrphanageLady: Ms. Mavilda is a corrupt orphanage owner who wastes all her income gambling rather than help the orphans.

* HeelFaceTurn: Mrs. Mavilda, after being struck down by the BoltOfDivineRetribution, which is Santa's way of saying, "Don't fuck with Mrs. Hopewell!"

* OnlySixFaces: The only distinguishing marks for the orphans are their hair and clothes. All of them have the exact same face.

* ShockAndAwe: Weirdly, Santa. He decorates the tree and gives the children new clothes with a noticeable electrical crackle. In a more traditionally elemental and slightly more sinister vein, Mrs. Mavilda is conveniently struck by lightning just before he makes his appearance. You really don't want to get on this guy's naughty list. Making him a sort of BadassSanta.

* StupidEvil: Mavilda repeatedly wasting all of her embezzled donation money on poker? Bad enough. Her enjoying screwing the kids over, way too much to care? Downright priceless.

* UnfortunateNames: Judy's son is named Pappy, which is traditionally a nickname for a grandfather. This is rather silly considering he's a young boy. Nobody points this out in the film, though.

* WritersCannotDoMath: A particularly egregious example that can be better described as "Writers Cannot Count Higher Than Five." Towards the end of the film, Ray says he and Judy will be adopting the orphans, so they'll have nine children to take care of. However, there are seven children in total (as can be seen on the page image): their two biological children, and the five orphans.

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* InfantImmortality: Lily ''falls off a cliff'' into a snowdrift. But she survives, thanks to Santa conveniently being in the area. In a slightly less blatant example, the children never seem to get sick or injured despite wearing threadbare clothing to play in the snow.

* WritersCannotDoMath: Ray says he and Judy will be adopting the orphans, so they'll have nine children to take care of. However, there are five orphans, and they have two biological children, so he should be saying they'll be caring for ''seven'' children (as can be seen on the page image).

* UnfortunateNames: Judy's son is named Pappy, which is traditionally a nickname for a grandfather. THis is rather silly considering he's a young boy. Nobody points this out in the film, though.

* ThousandYardStare: Judy and especially Ray unintentionally appear to be permanently shell shocked for the whole movie.

* BearsAreBadNews: One that looks like Baloo from ''Disney/TheJungleBook'' chases after the kids at one point.

* OnlySixFaces: The only distinguishing marks for the orphans are their hair and clothes. All of them have the exact same face.

* DullSurprise: Barring the [[ChewingTheScenery scenery-chewing]], the voice acting is... understated at best. Also near the end when Pappy tells his parents that Lily is probably dead, and their only reaction is their eyes going wide for a second.

* PsychoticSmirk: For some reason, the other kids in the orphanage greet Lily and Pappy with what are supposed to be warm smiles but instead look like they're planning on cooking and eating the brother and sister.

* DullSurprise: Barring the above [[ChewingTheScenery scenery-chewing]], the voice acting is... understated at best. Also near the end when Pappy tells his parents that Lily is probably dead, and their only reaction is their eyes going wide for a second.

** The kids on the VHS cover above. However, ironically, they look ''cuter'' than in the actual special.

* SantaClaus: Shows up at the very end, having saved the kids who went to search for him and apparently strikes down Mrs. Mavilda with a BoltOfDivineRetribution as well. Of course, as noted by WebVideo/{{Phelous}}, the movie seems to confuse Santa with Jesus, including having the kids follow the '''Star of Bethlehem''' to find him. Assuming it wasn't a commentary on how Santa resembles the Abrahamic God (see StealthParody below).

* ShockAndAwe: Weirdly, Santa. He decorates the tree and gives the children new clothes with a noticeable electrical crackle. In a more traditionally elemental and slightly more sinister vein, Mrs. Mavilda is conveniently struck by lightning just before he makes his appearance. You really don't want to get on this guy's naughty list. Making him a sort of BadassGrandpa.

* ThiefBag: The mayor pays Mrs. Mavilda in unmarked bags of money.

* NoodleIncident: Mrs. Mavilda apparently falsely accused a female orphanage worker of theft and got her thrown out, but we never learn more about it beyond a single line of dialogue.

* BabyTalk: Lily's dialogue. In fact, almost all of the children's lines fit this trope, to the point that WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic made a joke about it in his review:
-->"I just learned how to speak three days ago and according to the Craigslist posting, that's all you need to be in this movie."

* CoversAlwaysLie: The DVD cover shows the children indoors with a Christmas tree behind them. This tree is not Mrs. Hopewell, but an different one that only appears in the opening scene. [[http://ultimate-omarion.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/o-christmas-tree-vhs-lovely-the-christmas-tree-western-animation-tv-tropes-of-o-christmas-tree-vhs.jpg The VHS cover]] shows Mrs. Hopewell outside, but the children look pretty cute with soft facial features, unlike the Elmer Fudd-like faces the kids have in the film proper.

* PragmaticVillainy: Mrs. Mavilda expresses concern over the disappearance of Lily and Pappy...but only because if the Mayor finds out, she could lose her job.

''The Christmas Tree'' is a 1991 animated {{Christmas special}} that takes place in an orphanage run by the evil Mrs. Mavilda. She steals the orphanage's funds and tricks the mayor into thinking she's a good manager. The kids are so miserable they latch onto a pine tree as a mother figure. Things begin to change when a new family moves to town, and the mayor assigns the mother, Judy, to a position as Mrs. Mavilda's assistant. She and her two children live at the orphanage while their husband/father must live elsewhere for his new job. Judy takes the orphans under her wing and tries to make life better for them. When Mrs. Mavilda decides to frame Judy for a crime in order to have her removed, the children make a desperate bid to appeal to SantaClaus for help.