Washington This week’s formal Christmas tree lighting ceremony and the unveiling of a gingerbread model of the US Capitol, complete with sugar flowers symbolizing each of the 50 states, marked the beginning of the holiday season on Capitol Hill.
Alaska’s congressional delegation and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana lit the 80-foot 2024 Capitol Christmas tree on the West Front lawn Tuesday night.
“The tree is a really good substitute to give you a sense of our majestic state,” said Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska.
Imagine this tree, along with tens of thousands of others, covered by several feet of snow. For us Alaskans, this is a little piece of home in the capitol, and it’s a lovely place and time of year, Sullivan said.
Alaska’s official state tree, the Sitka spruce, was taken from Zarembo Island’s Tongass National Forest on October 19. The tree survived the weeks-long trip to Washington, D.C., thanks to a self-contained watering system constructed by nearby high school students.
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski told the event attendees about the tree’s more than 4,000-mile truck journey across the lower 48 states and its 752-mile sea voyage. Teamster truckers Fred Austin and John Schank were commended by Murkowski and Sullivan for their skillful driving in transporting the tree to the Capitol.
You consider the practicalities. The size of this tree is enormous. It didn’t arrive in assembled parts. According to Murkowski, “it (arrived) on one huge 80-foot-plus flatbed.”
“This thing is difficult to maneuver around corners,” Murkowski continued.
After reading her essay, “Alaska’s Christmas Tree,” fourth-grader Rose Burke of Kenai, Alaska, who had won Murkowski’s essay contest, assisted Johnson in turning on a number of colorful lights.
Thousands of handcrafted ornaments made by community volunteers and schoolchildren in Alaska adorn the tree. The Tlingit phrases kay il, sag, and ka toow k, which translate to “peace, happiness, and joy” in English, were used in the logo created by historian and Teehitaan clan chief Mike Aak wtaatseen Hoyt.
Through January 1, the tree will be illuminated daily from sunset to eleven p.m. Eastern time. In 1964, the Capitol tree lighting event got underway.
Gingerbread Capitol
In the Cannon House Office Building, another festive custom is in progress. On Sunday, a gingerbread replica of the US Capitol was wheeled into the rotunda. The official flowers from each of the 50 states adorn a wintry setting in the eighth annual, delectably fragrant reproduction, which is themed United in Bloom.
Amidst the white fondant and icing snow, a little more than 350 sugar-crafted flowers are visible. Pastry chef Audrey Angeles, who owns the nearby Frost and Flourish Bakery and Patisserie, put in over 100 hours of work only to make the flowers.
A group of six chefs, led by Fred Johnson III, an executive chef for Sodexo, the U.S. House’s food service supplier and a native of Norwalk, Ohio, created the gingerbread model.
Since 2017, Johnson, who had a lengthy and illustrious career as a chef for President Barack Obama and U.S. military members, has baked and built the gingerbread facsimile. Johnson baked 125 pounds of gingerbread in an oven on the grounds of the Capitol building to create this year’s model.
Since the replica is often positioned against a wall, Johnson said his team of pastry chefs decorated the model 365 degrees with about 30 pounds of fondant icing. This was the first time the team had done so. In honor of their return to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., visitors will be able to see pandas in the exhibit once more and take in a detailed fondant carousel.
Johnson stated, “I believe the success of this year’s model was letting people come up with their ideas and just do it.”
The team spent six weeks decorating and detailing the fully edible model, which has Isomalt windows and white candy cane pillars, every Sunday.
“The one thing that stressed me out in 2017 was the dome,” Johnson remarked.
Since then, he has devised a method for shaping the rice krispies into the shape of a dome, encircling it with gingerbread, and cutting out the windows. Johnson may put the dome on top by carefully freezing, baking, and peeling it.
Johnson declared, “I’ve got it down to a science now.”
The Capitol made of gingerbread will be on display all holiday long.
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