In 2024 the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree was harvested and delivered from the Tongass National Forest of Wrangell Alaska. For the tenth year in a row, I had the rare privilege to be the official photographer of The People’s Tree. In cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service and the Society of American Foresters we brought an 80-foot Sitka Spruce to the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building on a journey of more than 4,000 miles. Taking pictures along the way, we also gathered audio and video to tell this amazing story. In this special edition of the Joy Trip Project Podcast, we bring you the sounds and voices of our travels on the trail of a gift from the lands of Tlingit People.










A Christmas Celebration
Fade up music (Chorus of the Bells)
James:
It’s Christmas Eve. And I want to tell you a story. Many of you know that for last 10 years I’ve been the official photographer of the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. No, not the one that goes in front of the White House and it’s only kind of like the one they put up at Rockefeller Center in New York City. This is the big one. The one that goes on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building. It’s delivered each year by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service as a gift to the American Public. They call it The People’s Tree.
This year it’s a majestic 80 -foot tall Stika Spruce brought all the way from the Tongass National Forest of Alaska to Washington D.C., a journey of more than 4,000 Miles.  A few weeks ago, at special public ceremony on December 3rd it was lit up with shimmering lights and more than 10,000 ornaments made by the people of Alaska. With the help of Speaker of the House of Representatives Micheal Johnson a 12-year-old fourth-grader from the Kenai Peninsula named Rose Burke flipped the switch to be officially begin the holiday season.









Johnson: We're so grateful you made this journey all the way down here, so we don't want to wait any longer. Everybody's freezing. I know you can handle the cold, but I don't do it very well. All right. Would you all join? We will do a countdown. We'll see. Five all the way down to one. And then Rose and I are going to. Or she's going to flip the switch. You're ready? I'm going to count down from five. Let's go. Five, four, three, two one!
(Trailing music of band playing “Oh Christmas Tree...)









Lights from the Christmas Tree shimmer across U.S. Capitol Mall for all to see. Technically, this is where the story ends. The People’s Tree will grace the front lawn of the People’s House in Washington D.C. through the rest of month. Then it will be taken down right after New Year’s Day. Soon after that, the grounds crew of the Capitol Building will continue their work getting ready for the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States.









But as we get back to life as normal in the year 2025, few people will ever realize what it took to get the U.S.