The Holiday Treasure (1973), The House Without a Christmas Tree (1972), The Easter Promise (1975) and Addie and the King of Hearts (1976) are the four CBS TV stories about Addie Mills based on books by Gail Rock. Set in post-World War II Clear River, Nebraska. On the Platte River, I guess. In The Holiday Treasure, Addie's dad Jamie, played by Jason Robards, is an earthmoving contractor. He once dug a stock pond (called a "dugout" in the Northern Plains, a "tank" in Texas) with his dragline for a Mr. Walter Rehnquist, who refused to pay for the pond because it never filled with water. Jamie claimed that he dug it where Rehnquist wanted it and that Rehnquist should pay. However, Addie befriends Rehnquist's horse named Treasure, and eventually befriends the cranky old codger who lives alone on a rundown farm, even taking him food for Thanksgiving dinner. I remember that Addie had a bratty little boy relative at Thanksgiving whose suit coat pockets she filled with mashed potatoes. The four stories cover Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and Valentine's Day and grief, grudges, alcoholism and teenage crushes.
Review of The Thanksgiving Treasure
