Three Trees, but Only One Star?

In the 1960s, Congress decided it was time for a Capitol tree. After several failed attempts to cultivate live trees, the U.S. Forest Service delivered a 40-foot Norway spruce from West Virginia in 1970, giving birth to an annual tradition.

The Capitol tree comes from a different national forest every year, and states jockey to donate. They form fundraising committees and throw fundraising galas, in the manner of political campaigns.

Once chosen and cut down, after an appraisal from the Capitol landscaper, the tree is taken on a tour of small-town hot chocolate and caroling festivals before arriving at Capitol Hill.

The Capitol tree is decorated with thousands of handcrafted ornaments made by students and artists. Home-state politicians surround it during the lighting ceremony.

"I think the tree is the people's tree; it complements the other tree by the White House," said Eva Malecki, spokeswoman for the Architect of the Capitol, the office responsible for the tree. "I think of the White House tree as the one in your formal living room. Then the Capitol tree is the one in your family room, with the ornaments you made."

Paul Pincus, a former chief Capitol landscaper and the tree's steward until his retirement in 1995, had a less flattering comparison: "The feeling, the emotion that goes into the Capitol tree is something really special. That other tree, some decorator does that tree; there's nothing personal about it. It looks like it could be in any shopping mall."

Landscapers are very, very careful to place the tree precisely in the center of the Capitol lawn, equidistant from the House and the Senate sides, said one person who survived a year when the tree wasn't placed so judiciously. He did not want to be named.

That is just one of the niceties. The White House gets to light its tree first. That has been flouted in years past, reflecting political schisms, such as in the early 1980s, when House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, a Democrat, usually lighted the congressional tree the day before President Reagan lighted his.

Pincus claims some responsibility. "Every year, I'd wait to see when the White House was doing theirs. Then I'd schedule ours the day before," he said. But things are different now, he said.

This year, with a White House and congressional majority that generally agree, the discussions are civil. "It is an unspoken rule that the National Tree is lit first these days," Curfman said. The Capitol tree ceremony will be next Thursday.

But there is always room for adjustment. In the early 1990s, the Capitol tree became known officially as the "Capitol Holiday Tree," a nod to non-Christians. Pincus said he was proud that there were no angels on top of the tree -- it was festive but nondenominational.

"We got lots of letters back then from people who thought it should be called the holiday tree, simple as that," said Pincus.

Not this year. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) wrote a letter to the architect of the Capitol asking that the tree be renamed the Capitol Christmas Tree, and the architect obliged.

"The speaker wanted the name changed to reflect what it is -- a Christmas tree," said Hastert's spokesman, Ron Bonjean. "The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive."

Over on the Ellipse, supporters of the White House tree said they approved of the name change. As long as it is not lighted first.

Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.