Press Releases

WASHINGTON — Tonight, Speaker Johnson hosted the 2025 Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on the Front Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. Nevada fourth grader and winner of the Capitol Christmas Tree essay contest, Grady Armstrong, helped light the 53-foot Red Fir, harvested from the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and affectionately known as ‘Silver Belle.’

The Speaker was joined by USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, Lieutenant Governor Stavros Anthony, Architect of the Capitol Tom Austin, USDA Forest Service Chief Randy Moore, and members of the Nevada congressional delegation.

Watch Speaker Johnson’s full remarks here

Speaker Johnson delivered the following remarks at the ceremony:

Well, thank you all so much. It is always hard to follow Secretary Brooke Rollins, so thank you for being here — glad that you could make it. And we first, of course, want to thank Chief Schultz and Mr. Austin for making this night possible, as well as the man who did journey across the country to bring this beautiful tree to the Capitol. His name is Michael Porter, and I would ask you to stand, but it’s so dark we can’t even see where you are. But, Michael, thank you for that heroic effort.

Thanks also to the entire Nevada delegation. We’re grateful to you for sharing a piece of your home state for all the nation to enjoy. And right on cue, we have sirens to alert us to all this. For my friends from Nevada, we are shaking — we’re from Louisiana. Some people pronounce it Lose-iana. So we always say Nuh-vada, and now it’s supposed to be Nevada. Just forgive us, forgive us. We’re trying to get it right, okay?

We’re really glad you made it, all of you, and the weather really is beautiful for this evening. I know for all of us, Christmastime is a season of light and hope and renewal. This time invites us to pause and reflect on the many blessings that God has bestowed upon our lives and upon this great nation.

And tonight offers one of those rare moments where we can gather together and take stock of all those blessings.

Now behind me stands the great state of Nevada’s very first Capitol Christmas Tree, as we’ve all heard. It stands at a proud 53 feet. And even in this dark season, this tree shines bright — not from just one light, but from thousands shining together.

And in much the same way, the strength of our nation is found in the individual, in the small towns and neighborhoods, in places like Elko and Incline Village and Henderson and Virginia City. But all of us know that America, not unlike this tree, is strongest when we stand together as one nation under God, and we can never forget that.

We also know that great trees take generations to grow. Red firs like this one require the right conditions and decades of careful tending to rise to their full majesty. And so too with this great republic of ours.

Like the fir, the work of preserving this grand experiment in self-governance is also generational, and it falls to us to steward and protect it so that our children may inherit all the blessings that we enjoy today.

So next year, as we look ahead, we’ll be celebrating our nation’s 250th birthday, and we want to remember that sacred responsibility and to renew our commitment to this essential task that we have together.

Christmas is a fitting time to do just that — to look beyond our material blessings and to lift our gaze on high, just as the wise men once did on their journey to Bethlehem.

As we approach the end here, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas from our family to yours. And I know that we look forward to this time every year. It is about 20 degrees warmer than it was last year with a brisk wind, so you’re blessed — we all are.

And I now have the privilege of inviting the man of the hour we have heard so much about. He’s far more qualified than I to light this magnificent tree, and I’m going to ask him to join us up here. Grady, will you come up? Grady Armstrong comes here all the way from Virginia City, as you heard.

This is his first trip to Washington, D.C. He’s nine years old. He is a gifted young writer. He won this year’s Capitol Christmas Tree essay contest among the hundreds of participants, as we heard.

I’m also told — and this is not hyperbole, okay — what went into this essay was literal blood, sweat, and tears. Isn’t that true? Grady, I heard you cut your pinky while writing this. So, we want to thank you for your sacrifice, young man, and for your great talent that you’re sharing with us. And I can assure everyone, his painstaking work was well worth our wait.