We have our Christmas trees up \u2014 a little later than usual this year. Just about everything seems to take longer these days\u2026 maybe time doesn\u2019t really fly \u2014 we just work slower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyhow I was thinking about Christmas trees. Until we moved here to West Virginia, we always had a real Christmas tree and when our kids were young, they always went with us to get it. Even though the trees were somewhat expensive, messy and just generally a hassle to get hone and set up, it was always an enjoyable experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Kelly and David were young, we always took them to see the \u201cNational Christmas Tree\u201d on the Mall in Washington. It was a kind of \u201ctradition\u201d for a few years. After we\u2019d done the routine of visiting the tree on the Mall for a number of years, I learned that the tree that is cut down every year and decorated on the Mall isn\u2019t the real<\/em> National Christmas Tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Nation\u2019s Christmas Tree is alive and well in the Sequoia National Forest in California. The tree is over 1,700 years old, is 267 feet tall and goes by the name General Grant Tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The General Grant Tree was declared the Nation\u2019s Christmas Tree in 1926 by President Calvin Coolidge \u2014 it was officially dedicated as the Nation\u2019s Christmas Tree on April 28, 1926 by the United States Department of the Interior. On October 1, 1949, Sanger, California was recognized by the Post Office Department as the Nation\u2019s Christmas Tree City. Congress, by public law 441, made the General Grant Tree a National Shrine on March 29, 1956. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The story as to how the tree was selected as the national tree for the United States, goes something like this\u2026 Charles E. Lee of Sanger, California stood next to a little girl and they both looked up at the tree in 1924. As they admired the tree, the girl exclaimed, \u201cwhat a wonderful Christmas tree it would be!\u201d The idea stayed with Lee, and in 1925 he organized the first Christmas program, held at the Grant Tree at noon on Christmas Day. Lee worked with the Sanger Chamber of Commerce and wrote to President Calvin Coolidge, who designated the General Grant as the Nation\u2019s Christmas Tree on April 28 in 1926. The little girl that suggested the tree would be a \u201clovely Christmas tree,\u201d supposedly ran off into the grove \u2014 no one knows her name. But they never forgot her words. We have our Christmas trees up \u2014 a little later than usual this year. Just about everything seems to take longer these days\u2026 maybe time doesn\u2019t really fly \u2014 we just work slower. Anyhow I was thinking about Christmas trees. … Continue reading
The Sanger Chamber of Commerce continues to sponsor an annual Christmas \u201cTrek to the Tree\u201d on the second Sunday of December \u2014 always at 2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"