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No one, actually. Since 1978, the same living Colorado blue spruce has been used as the National Christmas Tree. Donated by Mr. and Mrs. William E. Myers of York, Pennsylvania, the 30-foot tree was planted in the Ellipse in October of that year and is tended by National Park Service horticulturalists and decorated every year during the National Tree Lighting Ceremony. According to the White House web site, the National Tree Lighting Ceremony began in 1923 when President Calvin Coolidge pushed the button to turn on the 2,500 electric lights decorating a 48-foot Vermont Balsam fir. From that
year on, a variety of cut and living trees were used as the National Christmas Tree until 1978, when the current tree took over. Every year, a cut tree is also chosen to grace the interior of the White House and serve as the Official White House Christmas Tree. This year, the chosen one is a Fraser fir from Wisconsin. How was it chosen? It won the National Christmas Tree Association's Christmas Tree Contest of course. The tree, a candidate that the grower had been carefully monitoring and grooming for this very honor, was hand-picked by White House Chief Usher Gary Walters,
Superintendent of Grounds Irv Williams, and Grounds Foreman Mike Lawn. It will be cut in late November and presented to the White House on December 1.
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