The Real Story of O Christmas Tree is a 1992 Christmas special released on home video by Golden Books and animated by Cookie Jar Entertainment. It is also part of "The Real Story Of" line.
The story is about a girl named Anneka who lives in woods with her parents and brother Karl, but her life changes when she met a friendly talking tree named Tannenbaum who helps her when she was blown away by the North Wind. However, he himself gets captured by the Wind due to the fact his leaves never get blown away like the other trees. Tannenbaum is now held as prisoner by King Winter because of it, and now Anneka wants to rescue her friend. She was later acquainted by a gnome named Piney (who is also friends with the tree) and his nephew Little Acorn as they go on a journey to King Winter's castle to rescue their friend.
The special stars Debbie Harry of Blondie and John Ritter. This is also the first acting role for his son Jason Ritter, who would later be famous for voicing Dipper Pines of Gravity Falls fame two decades later.
Not to be confused with O Christmas Tree. Which also features a talking pine tree as the central focus.
Tropes:
- Bilingual Bonus: Tannenbaum's name is German for Christmas Tree.
- Everything's Better with Sparkles: Little Acorn has special magic sparkles.
- Great Escape: The climax of the special has Anneka, Piney and Little Acorn rescuing Tannenbaum from the prison cell.
- Heel–Face Turn: King Winter eventually changed his ways after seeing Tannenbaum covered in sparkles, thinking that he's the most special tree he's ever seen. The North Wind later changes also after hearing the king.
- Ice Palace: King Winter resides in one.
- Salt Solution: Santa gives Piney some salt, which is useful to melt the icy prison cell bars Tannenbaum is stuck in.
- Spoiler Cover: The cover of the video spoils the ending.
