Abandoned Tree for White House | God's World News

Abandoned Tree for White House

11/16/2018

It’s time to deck the White House halls. In a holiday tradition begun in 1889, White House officials have selected the nation’s official Christmas tree for 2018. But this week, the farmer who raised the tree destined for Washington, DC, admitted that the Fraser fir “got the last laugh” after he “basically abandoned it” years ago.

Earlier this week, Larry Smith told The Charlotte Observer that the tree didn’t seem to be doing as well as the others on his farm. So for a couple of years, the North Carolina tree farmer didn’t trim it. Ooops.

Then two White House staffers scouting for the perfect tree for the First Family’s home say they “just loved the natural look to it.” At 19 ½ feet tall, the fir can hardly be called a “Charlie Brown” tree. (Remember the Christmas special in which Charlie Brown picks a pitiful real specimen over a lot full of shiny, fake trees?) Still, the tree has some branches that poke out from a perfect cone shape.

Smith’s Mountain Top Fraser Fir farm in Avery County, North Carolina, was selected to provide this year’s official tree after Smith won the National Christmas Tree Association’s contest in Wisconsin. Smith’s win bolsters North Carolina’s tally as the state with the most White House Christmas trees: Officials have selected 12 trees from the state to bedeck 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The tree was cut Wednesday and driven up to Washington, where Smith will present it to First Lady Melania Trump for use in the White House Blue Room.

(Larry Smith speaks to the media as a 19 ½ -foot Fraser fir selected for the official White House Christmas tree is bundled for shipment. Photo courtesy WLOS News 13)