Schuylkill tree welcomed at White House
WASHINGTON, D.C. — First lady Jill Biden welcomed guests from Schuylkill County to the White House on Monday as she accepted a concolor fir grown on Evergreen Acres Christmas Tree Farm near Auburn.
The 18 ½ -foot-tall, 12-footwide tree was selected to be the official White House Christmas tree.
“I think it will fill the room,” Evergreen Acres co-owner Paul Shealer said.
“I think it will fill our hearts,” the first lady replied during a brief reception at 3 p.m.
Clydesdale horses pulled a carriage carrying the tree into the north portico, where the first lady greeted the Shealer family and posed with them for photos.
National Guard and Army mom Kelly Hokanson, spouse of Gen. Daniel Hokenson, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, accompanied the first lady. Members of the Shealer family, owners of Evergreen Acres, the 2022 Grand Champion Grower in the National Christmas Tree Association’s annual contest, presented the tree, which will stand in the Blue Room.
Every year the historic room’s chandelier is removed to accommodate the Christmas tree.
Representatives from the White House visited Evergreen Acres on Oct. 10 to select the tree. This was the second time the farm was selected to supply the White House tree.
In 2000 then-owners Paul Alan Shealer and Sharon Shealer presented a tree to first lady Hillary Clinton in a ceremony at the White House.
For this year the Shealer family had marked three trees — two Douglas firs and one concolor fir — as having White House potential. Due to a 20-foot height limit, the concolor, which is 20 years old, was chosen.
Paul and Sharon Shealer, who began competing for the nation’s tree in 1979, turned over the ownership of Evergreen Acres to Paul and Pam Shealer this year.
This year marks the 57th time a member of the National Christmas Tree Association presented the official White House Christmas tree, a tradition begun under Lady Bird Johnson in 1966.
The first known Christmas tree in the White House was placed upstairs in the Second Floor Oval Room (then used as a family parlor and library) in 1889 during the Benjamin Harrison administration. The tree was decorated with candles for the Harrison grandchildren.
Documentation suggests the first electric lights on a family tree were used in 1894 during the presidency of Grover Cleveland; electricity was installed in the White House in 1891.
The children of William Howard Taft — Robert, Helen and Charles — placed the first tree in the Blue Room on the State Floor in 1912.
Since the Taft family placed a Christmas tree in the Blue Room in 1912, the custom of placing a tree or multiple trees on the State Floor was sporadically followed by successive first families.
Some families placed a small tree in the Blue Room; others preferred a large tree or trees in the East Room, as that was where most of the seasonal activities took place.
During the Dwight Eisenhower administration first lady Mamie Eisenhower featured a tree in the Blue Room consistently.
First lady Jacqueline Kennedy continued the tradition: In 1961 she selected a theme for the annual Blue Room Christmas tree.
That year, the tree was decorated with objects depicting characters and toys from the “Nutcracker Suite” ballet.
The tradition of a themed Blue Room Christmas tree has continued ever since.
Since 1966 the National Christmas Tree Association has held a competition for the official White House Blue Room tree.
To qualify for the national contest, growers must first win their state or regional competitions.