National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony 2006Today was our day to go to the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony downtown. A month ago Jeff and Cameron with kids in tow got tickets at 5:00 am in front of the white house. It was a chilly 25 degrees tonight, so it added to the excitement... ha!
We took the Metro downtown, which was our first time we have done that. Caroline was so excited to be on "the train".
Annie Kate and Ben on the Metro all bundled up. We rode down with the Pratts and Axley's and met the Davis's downtown. Going with great, fun people made all the difference in surviving the cold elements.
Here is a before photo of Sally Jane with out the frostbitten nose and fingers that she will be getting in the next few hours.
Annie Kate with her great tickets, which we soon learned that green around the edge of the tickets meant "sit in the very back". There were silver, blue and black, which meant come sit up front with President Bush.
I was thrilled to have found before we left Annie Kate's old Santa coat that I had made for her years ago. It was darling on Caroline but don't know how warm it was for her. This is Caroline running around on the lawn before it began.
You can't really see in this picture the motorcade of black Suburbans in front of the white house ready to pick up President Bush and bring him 200 yards to his seats. There must have been 10 cars to caravan over. Security was incredibly tight. There were a few guys on top of the white house watching from above.
You can see President and Laura Bush on the left of the photo, Mrs. Bush has the white jacket with the red scarf and President Bush sitting next to her. (see how great our seats were!)
So the night was cold but was just getting colder and colder. This is Jeff with Sally Jane wrapped in his "Soupie". She would not keep her mittens on and she was a ice cube.
Caroline and Lauren near the end of the show were dancing in the isles, I am sure to keep warm. That Caroline never stops moving.
After hearing Cathy Rigby,(poor freezing thing had her peter pan costume on) Eartha Kit(Izma from Emperor's New Groove) and a few other famous people we had never heard of President Bush spoke
and then we counted down and he pushed the switch! The tree was all a glow!
We had a great time, but it was FREEZING! On our way back home on the metro we were laughing about coming back for the 4th of July and camping out on the lawn for the fireworks, realizing it would be another case of extreme weather... HOT!
More Photos of the night.
A little history about the event.
Since 1923, the United States has held a tradition of lighting a National Christmas Tree in Washington, DC. In 1978, a live 40-foot Colorado blue spruce was transplanted from York, Pennsylvania to its present site on the Ellipse, the grassy area south of the White House. In 1954, a "Pathway of Peace," 56 smaller, decorated trees representing all 50 states, five territories, and the District of Columbia were planted surrounding the National Christmas Tree. Each year sponsoring organizations from each state provide tree decorations that are encased in a protective plastic globe to shield it from the weather.Easter Egg Roll here we come...
15 comments:
We thought of you guys ALL day and night knowing we might have been there. SIgh. It looked like it was a lot of fun and a lot of cold! Very jealous. We still don't even have a tree up at our house!!! Great shots with your camera.
I am so impressed that you did that-- with three kids no less. We went to the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center, and I thought it was cold and miserable, and I don't even have kids.
What a great memory for your girls. I love all of your traditions.
That weather just sound SO cold, but that is something I have always wanted to do. Anne Kate I am sure will look back and tell everyone what a cool experience it was she got to go.
But like you said having fun people around makes things bearable. I remember freezing at the bonfires in NOLA, but we were with the Gruwells and Gomez's and it wasn't half as bad!
I wouldn't enjoy the freezing, but it would be worth it for the memories! I love the Santa coat. You are just so dang cute and enviably photogenic.
The pictures are great, what a fun thing to get to go do. I think the fact that it was freezing makes it that much more festive and funny (kind of like us last week at Temple Square). You look beautiful in the picture with Sally Jane, I'm so happy you're getting to be in more pictures these days.
What a night! I have always wanted to go to that tree-lighting. So sorry about the weather! You have such a cute family.
I love reading about your family walk-abouts. Thanks for sharing the experiences with the rest of us!
It does look really chilly, but what a fun experience! Your pictures are so great. I really admire that you take the time and effort to do all these amazing things with your family to maximize the experience of where you are living now. When your time there is over, you won't have to look back with regret for things you wish you had done. It's definitely the way to live!
very cool!! your kids will always remember it...at least the older ones. so cold but worth it.
The picture of you and SJ is great. You look gorgeous! Great memories in the making for your girls- I am sure AK will remember the first time she went and how cold it was.
Fun family memory! So neat that you live right there.
Looks magical and freezing!!! The 4th is super hot---I'll never forget going with David's parents on the 4th of July and watching David's dad "cool down" by unbuttoning his shirt- revealing all that's underneath (if you know what I mean!) What a character! The hot day ended with pouring down rain like I've never seen. So funny now to think back on. I can't tell you how it thrills me to see you experiencing this place that I love- if only it had been 3 years ago-we could have enjoyed it together!
So cool! Your kids will never forget it, making the cold weather totally worth it!
I really enjoyed the pictures, it was the next best thing to being there! What great memories for your girls!! The tree is gorgeous!
it is funny i did this exact outing when I was a bit older than Sally Jane and I still remember many of the details...how exciting to be able to see this with your family. What a fun memory.
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