Treetops glisten, glitter and glow

Archie had a little Christmas tree of his own which he had rigged up with the help of one of the carpenters in a big closet; and we all had to look at the tree and each of us got a present off of it….

—Theodore Roosevelt, letter to Master James A. Garfield, Washington, Dec. 26, 1902

Amid the bustle of Union Station in the week before Christmas comes a surprise: Scurrying shoppers, power walkers, dogged commuters stop in their tracks to gawk at something way over on the west side of the Great Hall — the Union Station Christmas tree.

“It’s just gorgeous,” says one commuter, gazing up at the top of the 30-foot tree ablaze with 8,000 white lights. “It certainly gives you a lift at the end of a long day.”

There’s nothing like a Christmas tree to boost the spirits and help recapture the excitement of Christmas past. While department store window decorations may exist only in memories, Washington has plenty of Christmas trees to take in downtown. Beginning with Union Station, they stud the landscape from the Capitol grounds to the Smithsonian complex and all the way down to the Ellipse.

Now, a well-decorated, well-lighted tree can almost always make even the most harried soul pause. But the Union Station tree is not just any Christmas tree. It’s a gift — from the people of Norway to the people of the United States.

“It’s for the Marshall Plan,” says Norwegian Ambassador Knut Vollebaek, alluding to the United States’ post-World War II European assistance plan. “And for all the things America has done to help us both before and after the war.”

The tree is considered the District’s official Christmas tree; there’s even a formal ceremony to honor the gift. The city of Oslo has presented the tree to the District of Columbia for seven years now.

“We think that Christmas trees are a very nice tradition,” says Mr. Vollebaek. “They light up the dark days and evenings that we have.”

The Union Station tree is especially photogenic, even if you don’t know its story. There’s nothing like 30 feet of Norwegian spruce and countless strands of white lights to command respect and even a degree of awe.

“How did they do it?” marvels Tenisha Propter, 3, of Northeast, stepping up on her toes to get a closer look. “They needed a giant to put all those lights on this gigantic tree.”

When you know what it took to get it all here, the lights seem to shine even more brightly. Federal regulations prohibit the importation of trees. So Norwegian officials found a tree in Iowa, with a grower of Norwegian descent. When the city of Oslo ran short of funds for the tree this year, the Norwegian technology firm Kongsberg stepped in early and took over the project.

“The tree is very important to us,” says the ambassador. “We hope to provide it as long as the people of Washington want it.”

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