From Darren Smith,
Your Guide to US & Canadian Parks.
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The Trees Go "Live"
Prior to 1973, cut trees were donated for the Pageant of Peace. In that year, a 42-foot blue spruce from northern Pennsylvania was donated by the National Arborist Association, with the idea that it would serve as a permanent National Christmas Tree. Unfortunately, in 1976 that tree began dying, and the following year, a new replacement tree was blown over during a wind storm. In 1978, a 40-foot-tall living Colorado blue spruce, donated by an anonymous family in Maryland, was transplanted to the Ellipse where it has served as the National Christmas Tree ever since.

Tradition calls for the Vice President's wife to place the star atop the National Christmas Tree, assisted by the chairman of the Christmas Pageant of Peace. Today the Pageant is a private, public collaboration of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior; Christmas Pageant of Peace, Inc.; the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Washington Convention and Visitors Association. Support and contributions come from the Washington area business and service community. For further information, please contact the White House Visitor Center at 202-208-1631.

The 2007 Pageant
This year the Pageant's opening ceremony featuring the lighting of the National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse will take place on December 6th. After opening night, from dusk on December 7th through January 1st, visitors will have a one of a kind opportunity to enjoy the Christmas Pageant of Peace site featuring the National Christmas Tree; smaller trees representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the 5 U.S. Territories; model trains; and the warmth of the Yule log. Additionally, visitors can enjoy free nightly musical performances from December 8th through December 23rd as musical groups from throughout the region will perform on the outdoor Pageant stage.

For your information
In case you're wondering what the National Christmas Tree at the White House has to do with national parks, it might surprise you to learn that the White House is actually a unit of the National Park System, having been transferred to the National Park Service (U.S. Department of the Interior) on August 10, 1933.