President Bush urged spectators to remember the displaced Gulf Coast residents and the servicemen and women abroad before lighting the National Christmas Tree at the Pageant of Peace Thursday night.
"The lighting of the National Christmas Tree is one of the great traditions in our nation's capital," President Bush said as he addressed the spectators gathered on the Ellipse. "Each year, we gather here to celebrate the season of hope and joy and to remember the story of one humble life that lifted the sights of humanity."
Prior to the actual lighting of the tree, spectators viewed the Pageant of Peace, a holiday concert that featured Grammy award winners Ricky Skaggs and Dale Kristien, among other performers.
"It gets us all in the Christmas spirit because it's kind of hard to feel that way on campus," said Nate Wambold, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences who attended the tree lighting ceremony.
Also present at the Pageant was poet Dr. Maya Angelou, who wrote a poem especially for the lighting of the tree called "Amazing, Amazing Peace."
"It is the glad season," Angelou said. "Hope is born again in the faces of our children."
The president was joined by first lady Laura Bush, as well Jackie, Melissa and Jenna Kantor, the children who started "Project Backpack," a program that provided school supplies to children displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
"Christmas is a time to rejoice, and to give thanks for the blessings of the season and for the blessings that surround us every day of the year," Bush said. "We also remember that we have a responsibility to help those in need. America is a compassionate and generous land, and acts of kindness toward others fulfill the spirit of the season."
The tree, a 78-foot Colorado blue spruce, was decorated in white lights and white snowflakes. Fifty-six smaller trees surround the main tree. The 56 trees represent the fifty states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories. Civic groups living in the different areas decorated the trees.
The Louisiana Children's Hospital was supposed to make handcrafted ornaments representing the state of Louisiana for the tree, but the hospital was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Other states contributed ornaments for the Louisiana tree showing and spectators were asked to continue remembering displaced Gulf Coast residents.
Amid the holiday spirit, there was controversy over the name of the tree, with numerous public figures, including Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., advocating that the tree be called a Christmas tree rather than a Holiday Tree, as it has been called in recent years.
"I strongly urge that we return to this tradition and join the White House, countless other public institutions and millions of American families in celebrating the holiday season with a Christmas tree," Hastert said to architect Alan Hantman, according to ABC News.
First lady Laura Bush said while Americans celebrate the holiday season in different ways, the tree is still a Christmas tree.
"We'll have a Hanukkah party ... here at the White House later during the month," she said. "But I think we've always called this the White House Christmas tree"
