Update: A post about the event is here. The First Family will attend the National Christmas Tree Lighting on the Ellipse at 5:00 PM this evening. President Obama will deliver remarks, and then push the button lighting the tree. In the photo above, taken last weekend, workers construct a model railroad around the base of the tree.
Tonight is the tree's debut as the National Christmas Tree; the Colorado Blue Spruce replaces another Colorado Blue Spruce replanted on the Ellipse in 1978, which was felled in a wind storm in February 2011. The current tree was put in place in March of 2011. It is measures approximately 26 feet, 4 inches tall - and growing. There has been a National Christmas Tree every year since 1923, according to the National Park Service.
*Photo by Eddie Gehman Kohan/Obama Foodorama