WASHINGTON – Amid a freezing mist that enveloped sunset here on Tuesday, an 88-foot giant from the Chippewa National Forest, bedecked with ornaments made by Minnesota children, is now alight in front of the steps of the U.S. Capitol.
This year's Minnesota white spruce is the second tallest in the 50-year history of the U.S. Capitol Christmas trees — something Democratic Sen. Al Franken joked was normal for Minnesota.
"The second largest doesn't sound much like a brag, but in Minnesota, home of Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale, being second is a brag," Franken said, referring to the state's two former vice presidents. "Do you know how many years it takes to grow an 88-foot-tall tree? Neither do I, but I'm sure it took a very long time."
The spruce traveled more than 2,000 miles on the bed of a Mack truck from the Eighth Congressional District to Washington, D.C. It has been kept alive by a steady supply of water from giant white bags that look a bit like diapers. It arrived 12 days ago and was decorated by U.S. Forest Service workers.
Rep. Rick Nolan, a Democrat representing the congressional district where the tree was grown, said the Tuesday evening celebration was a nice one because it didn't include any partisan politics, even though the tree's branches were "poking" out to the left and the right. House Speaker John Boehner stood nearby.
"It reminds us all that we are one nation and one people," Nolan said.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar actually traipsed to the Chippewa forest and helped the U.S. Forest Service select the tree in October. She said it was appropriate that it came from near Bemidji, home of the Paul Bunyan statue.
"It would take more than four Paul Bunyan statues to reach the star on the tree," she said. Minnesota, she noted, "in the words of our unofficial poet laureate Garrison Keillor, a state where the women are strong, right? The men are good looking, right, Franken? And all of the trees are above average."
