First Look: National Christmas Tree

national-christmas-tree-by Murmurmel

national-christmas-tree-by Murmurmel

Yesterday was the unveiling of the National Christmas Tree. (Well, as much as you can unveil something that has been there since August.) But there were festivities, and the tree lit up, Christmas joy, and all that. The tree will be lit from now until after Christmas, with nightly performances from Saturday, December 6 to Tuesday, December 23, 2008. I’ve collected some first-look flickr pics for your viewing pleasure, in case you missed it yesterday.

My coworker Stephen (same Stephen as PB&J Stephen) went to the ceremony and said that the tree is wrapped in net lights, (TACKY!) which you can see from flickr user Murmurmel‘s capture above (click here to be taken to the larger image). (Also, side note, if you’re my friend and you don’t want me talking about you on WLDC, tell me now. Cause I obviously consider all conversations we have fair game for posts.)

Here, flickr user Rabinal captures the tree during daytime.

washington-dc-icons-by-rabinal

washington-dc-icons-by-rabinal

You can see here the ornaments and the “fancy” net lighting, as well.
Frequent flickr contributor PhillieFan99 has a great close-up of the ornaments on the tree.
misrepresentation-by-philliefan99

misrepresentation-by-philliefan99

PhillieFan99’s picture caption says: “The National Park Service has boasted that the National Christmas Tree is being lit with energy-saving LEDs rather than traditional electricity-guzzling incandescent bulbs. So what’s this? Here, the lights on the outside are LEDs…but the bulbs in the star are obviously incandescent. Hmm…”
For even more Tree goodness, DCist has a neat video. I like this year’s tree better than last year’s… what about you?
And while you’re in the holiday spirit, why don’t you go out there and snap some great DC holiday pictures to submit to our 2008 Holiday Photo Contest? It’s free to enter (you may enter up to three pictures) and there are GREAT prizes! The Grand Prize winner will receive a $50 dinner gift certificate for Overwood as well as their choice between a family four-pack of tickets to the International Spy Museum OR one pair of tickets to a Nationals 2009 season game, with “Presidential Club” seats, including parking pass. (Date to be arranged with winner.) The runner-up (is that “First Prize”?) will receive either the ISM or Nationals tickets, whichever the Grand Prize winner does not choose.

Katie moved to DC in 2007, and has since embarked upon a love affair with the city. She’s an education reform advocate and communications professional during the day; at night and on the weekends, she’s an owner here at We Love DC. Katie has high goals to eat herself through the entire city, with only her running shoes to save her from herself. For up-to-the-minute news and reviews (among other musings), follow her on Twitter!

6 thoughts on “First Look: National Christmas Tree

  1. I’d rather use net lighting on a tree that size; have you ever tried to use standard string lights on a gigantic pine? It’s not pretty nor very fun…

  2. This is arguably the most prestigious christmas tree in the US. They have the budget, man power, and the time to wrap that thing. It’s not like it’s just two people wrastling it. it’s a mondo-tree with a mondo-sized decoration staff. I expect WRAPPING! Standards, Ben, standards. ;)

  3. We had a 20′ pine tree for Christmas a few years growing up. It wasn’t hard to light, it just required a lot of light, and a little bit of time. Get a couple guys with cherry picker lifts and a bunch of lights, and you can totally do it.