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Montreal's lopsided Christmas tree is basically a giant version of Charlie Brown's

Montreal wanted a Christmas tree taller than the one at Rockefeller Center, but ended up with a giant version of Charlie Brown's pitiful sapling.
/ Source: TODAY

Montreal wanted to have a Christmas tree this year that would be the tallest in North America and more spectacular than the iconic one at New York City's Rockefeller Center.

Instead, what the city erected was...this.

Looking more like an 88-foot-tall version of Charlie Brown's pitiful Christmas tree, it's being called the evergreen equivalent of an ugly holiday sweater.

The tree, which stands in the Quartier des Spectacles at Place des Arts, has become a tourist destination for all the wrong reasons.

The city also came up short in its goal to make the lopsided fir stand higher than the Rockefeller Center tree, as the New York City tree is around 6 feet taller.

"It's a pretty sad excuse for a Christmas tree compared to the Rockefeller tree,'' Montreal resident Anna Zavitsanos told CBC News.

"It is not beautiful,'' local resident Louise Bernier told the National Post. "There is not even a head at the top. I don’t like it, not one bit. But I guess we’ll have to get used to looking at it."

In comparison, the tree at Rockefeller Center is a 94-foot-tall Norway spruce wrapped with five miles of multi-colored LED lights and topped with a Swarovski star made of 25,000 crystals.

The Montreal tree has no star on top and is decorated with miniature red logos for automotive parts store Canadian Tire.

The company sponsored the cost of the lights and the space where the tree stands.

The Montreal tree now has its own parody account in French @SapinLaid, which translates to "ugly fir."

“We’re asking everybody to look at the tree for more than five minutes and ask, why do they think it’s an ugly tree?'' Philippe Peletier of Sapin MTL, which delivered the tree, told the National Post.

"Maybe after five minutes people will realize that this tree is just as unique as they are, as unique as Montreal is. It’s an opportunity to celebrate diversity."

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