Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree is a children's picture book by Robert Barry, first published in 1963.
The story, told in rhyme, begins with the wealthy Mr. Willowby having a Christmas tree delivered to his mansion, only to discover it's too tall for the parlor. So he instructs his butler to cut off the top, which is then given to the maid, who puts it on a table in her room — and finds that it's just a little too tall. As the story progesses, pieces of the top keep getting cut off and enjoyed by different people and animals.
It was adapted into a 1995 CBS television Christmas Special by the Jim Henson Company, starring Robert Downey Jr., Stockard Channing, Leslie Nielsen, and Kermit the Frog.
This story provides examples of the following tropes:
- Beary Funny: The local bears are jolly creatures who spend the special celebrating a bear holiday called the Midwinter Honeypot Waltz.
- Benevolent Boss: Mr. Willowby is always nice to his employees.
- Contrived Coincidence: The mice are taken from Mr. Willowby's house to a bears' den to an owls' nest. The owls' nest is right in front of Mr. Willowby's house.
- Manchild: Mr. Willowby acts like a kid at Christmastime.
- The Matchmaker: Mr. Willowby wants Baxter and Miss Adelaide to get together.
- Nice Mice: The mice are the real main characters.
- Ominous Owl: The mice are terrified of owls. Fortunately for them, the owls are too busy celebrating their own holiday to notice the mice in their tree.
- One Man's Trash Is Another's Treasure: Whenever someone cuts off part of the Christmas tree because it's too big, someone else takes that part home.
- Species Surname: The mice have Mouse as their last name.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: None of the humans notice that the mice are wearing clothes.
