The holiday season was in full swing at the White House on Monday as first lady Jill Biden welcomed this year’s official White House Christmas tree. The decades-old holiday tradition is taking on new meaning this year after Hurricane Helene ripped through the southeastern United States.

What You Need To Know

  • The holiday season was in full swing at the White House on Monday as First Lady Jill Biden welcomed this year’s official White House Christmas tree
  • This year’s tree, an 18 and a half foot Fraser Fir, comes from the Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm in Avery County, North Carolina
  • Soon, it will stand floor-to-ceiling in the middle of the White House Blue Room, continuing a tradition that dates back to the 1960’s
  • This year, after Hurricane Helene ripped through the Southeast, damaging thousands of trees on the Cartner farm in western North Carolina alone, Sam Cartner says the tree represents much more than just his family’s business

The first lady was joined by her grandson Beau Biden, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., and four North Carolina-based National Guard families for Monday’s event in front of the White House North Portico, set to live Christmas music. 

“In just a few days, volunteers from all over the country will pour in to transform this tree and decorate the entire White House,” Biden said. “And out of the whirlwind of glitter and garlands, will come the warmth and comfort of the season.”

This year’s tree, an 18½-foot Fraser fir, comes from the Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm in Avery County, North Carolina. The more than 60-year-old farm, run by the three Cartner brothers — David, Jim and Sam — won the National Christmas Tree Association’s annual competition in order to be crowned “grand champion grower” and secure the White House honor. 

“Twenty-five years ago ... our father planted that tree, and here we are after all that time,” David Cartner remarked following Monday’s event. 

The tree, named “Tremendous,”  was presented to the first lady on a green and red wagon pulled by two Clydesdale horses. Soon, it will stand floor-to-ceiling in the middle of the White House Blue Room, continuing a tradition that dates back to the 1960s.

“When a grower becomes the grand champion grower and your family hears about that and maybe it's an hour and a half or two-hour drive, but you're like, ‘Hey, we could go get a tree from the grower who just put the tree in the White House,’ and their business just booms from that,” Tim O’Connor, executive director of the National Christmas Tree Association, told Spectrum News. 

But this year, after Hurricane Helene ripped through the Southeast, damaging thousands of trees on the Cartner farm in western North Carolina alone, Sam Cartner said “Tremendous” represents much more than just his family’s business. 

“We want this to represent all the good things about life for everyone, all the other tree growers, all the families that lost so much, farmers in America," he said. "This is a wonderful thing."

"The Cartner family lost thousands of trees in the storm, but this one remained standing, and they named it 'Tremendous' for the extraordinary hope that it represents," the first lady said Monday. 

Monday marked Biden’s last time hosting the annual tradition as her husband, President Joe Biden, is set to leave office in January. It comes just hours after the president marked what he called the start of the holiday season in Washington by pardoning two turkeys just days before Thanksgiving.