hello everyone and good evening welcome to the united states capitol christmas tree lighting ceremony i'm stephen ayres the acting architect of the capitol and i'm honored to serve as your master of ceremonies tonight as we carry out this tradition for the forty sixth year in a row part of this tradition is playing a festive carols prior to the and i'd like to give a special thanks to the united states marine band under the direction of captain michelle rakers for being here and helping to create such a warm holiday mood for tonight's celebration thank you so much i'd also like to thank the white mountain apache dancers for welcoming welcoming us here this evening with their lively performance and let's show them our appreciation as well behind me ladies and gentleman right here on what i like to call our nation's stage stands a magnificent eighty five foot tall blue spruce from the apache sitgreaves national forest in arizona it's been beautifully with nearly five thousand handmade ornaments crafted by the people of arizona which reflect this year's theme arizona's gift from the grand canyon state in addition the tree is adorned with thousands of bright colorful lights l e d lights which are environmentally friendly and save energy and we're very proud that we're using l e d lights for the fifth year in a row to do our part to conserve energy here in the capitol complex as is our wonderful tradition the speaker of the house the honorable nancy pelosi will extend her holiday greetings to you and officially light this magnificent tree in just a moment at that time we'd appreciate it if all of you would stay in your seats until the official program has concluded before we get to that big moment let me welcome our members of congress and distinguished guests our capitol hill neighbors and those of you who are visiting this the nation's capital thank you all for joining us on this clear and cold evening i'd expect we like to acknowledge the arizona delegation and in particular senator john mccain congresswoman and governor jan brewer as well as other members of congress who are joining us here tonight each year the united states capitol historic society produces a beautiful ornament and presents the congress with one to place on the capitol christmas tree at this time i'd like to introduce a former member of congress and the president of the u s capitol historical society and my friend mr ron  it thank you very much for i know what a fitting ornament and the tree looks beautiful there terrific well for thirty nine years the department of agriculture's u s forest service and the architect of the capitol have partnered to bring a christmas tree to the capitol each year from one of our nation's one hundred fifty five national forests all of which together comprise one hundred ninety three million acres and a farce grassland in the united states i expect to like to thank all of the dedicated forest service staff who helped make this event possible and please join me and showing them our round of applause thank you so much mr chairman as i mentioned been on a tremendous journey and in fact it has traveled more than four thousand miles from the state of arizona and just one week ago the tree arrived here on the west front of the capitol where our dedicated grounds crew went to work decorating it didn't they do a fantastic job let's give them a hand us with liberty and justice for all thank you all very much for being here and now it's my great pleasure to introduce someone who really doesn't need any introduction senator john mccain city of show low the town of springerville and the white mountain apache indian reservation from there it traveled the state to the county courthouse and press good visiting the state capital in phoenix and on its way to historic tucson passing through the farmland of yuma and traveling along side the mighty colorado river to kingman finally a journey to an all route sixty six to flagstaff and continued eastward through the  nation on its way to washington as in mention the tree is adorned with six thousand ornaments hand crafted by arizona schoolchildren and assisting the speaker and lighting the trees caitlin frederick fenric a seventh grade student from kenyon ridge school in surprise arizona and of course we're always grateful to have the president's own marine corps band here with us could we thank them for being out on this call and i to light this evening sprout in air national forest in eighty four grover cleveland was president ben and construction on the washington monument was about to be completed as you can see and it's one hundred twenty five years it grew probably straight and tall like america herself its branches now there are nine months and as the national christmas tree it is about to be a glow with thousands of like standing even more proudly america's symbol of christmas and the holidays we all share this special session this special season is about giving and caring and so on behalf of all the citizens of arizona i am here to share our manifest blessings as this magnificent blue spruce now becomes and belongs to the nation i see the light that will soon brighten the night representing our servicemen and women and their family their service is their gift to all of us it is their sacrifice which guarantees our freedom and makes possible the dream we all share peace on earth goodwill towards