White House Christmas Tree Arrives

First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton opened the White House Christmas season Thursday by accepting an 18 1/2-foot noble fir trucked 2,700 miles from Washington state.

A carriage pulled by two horses adorned in red ribbons and Santa caps delivered the tree to the sun-drenched South Portico of the White House as a youth choir sang “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.”

The first residence will be shuttered this weekend while the tree is decorated and will reopen for public tours Tuesday.

Ed and Cindy Hedlund of Elma, Wash., said it took about 20 years to grow the tree at one of their tree farms.

Earlier Thursday, Tipper Gore, wife of the vice president, topped the national Christmas tree with the help of two youngsters.

Patricia Moriarty, 9, of Crofton, Md., admitted it was “sort of scary” riding in the hydraulic lift to the top of the giant tree on the Ellipse, south of the White House.

She and 10-year-old Gavin Fugere, from Hyattsville, Md., helped raise $20,000 for the homeless in an effort organized by their school.

More than 75,000 lights, garlands and ornaments shaped as festive ribbons, poinsettias and boughs of evergreen adorn the tree. The decorations will sparkle starting Wednesday, when President Clinton will turn on the lights--an unbroken tradition of presidents since 1923.

The national Christmas tree will be surrounded by 56 smaller trees in the Ellipse, representing the states, territories and the District of Columbia.