Delivering Enchantment: The Two-Thousand-Mile Christmas Tree
Near Red River, New Mexico
In two thousand nineteen, the United States Capitol Christmas Tree in Washington came from the mountains above Red River, New Mexico. A sixty-foot blue spruce was selected from the Questa Ranger District of the Carson National Forest, with the cutting ceremony held in a forested canyon near Red River itself.
The tradition of the Capitol Christmas Tree goes back decades. Each year, the Forest Service selects a national forest to contribute the tree, and that tree makes a ceremonial journey across the country before being installed on the west lawn of the Capitol building. When New Mexico was selected in two thousand nineteen and the forest above Taos County was chosen as the source, a small mountain town with a population of around five hundred found itself briefly in the national spotlight.
The blue spruce was harvested on November sixth and traveled more than two thousand miles across the country, stopping in twenty-five communities along the route to celebrate the journey. It arrived in Washington decorated with nearly ten thousand handcrafted ornaments made by people throughout New Mexico. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lit the tree on December fourth, under the theme Delivering Enchantment, a phrase drawn from New Mexico's own nickname as the Land of Enchantment.
It was the third time New Mexico had provided the Capitol tree. Each time, the tree had come from forests in the northern part of the state. For Red River, where visitors usually come for skiing or fishing, the two thousand nineteen tree was a different kind of distinction.
