R-L) First lady Michelle Obama and her dog Sunny; her daughters Sasha Obama, 12, and Malia Obama, 15, and the family dog Bo; Christopher Botek and Kyra Yurko of Lehighton, Pennsylvania; and John Wyckoff of Belvidere, New Jersey; receive the official White House Christmas Tree at the North Portico of the White House
R-L) First lady Michelle Obama and her dog Sunny; her daughters Sasha Obama, 12, and Malia Obama, 15, and the family dog Bo; Christopher Botek and Kyra Yurko of Lehighton, Pennsylvania; and John Wyckoff of Belvidere, New Jersey; receive the official White House Christmas Tree at the North Portico of the White House (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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A Christmas tree grown in New Jersey will be displayed for the first time at the White House.

 

The award winnning Blue Spruce Christmas tree that won them the 2013 National Christmas Tree Association Grand Championship
The award winnning Blue Spruce Christmas tree that won them the 2013 National Christmas Tree Association Grand Championship (Wyckoff Family Trees)
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Michelle Obama, daughters Malia and Sasha and the family's two dogs on Friday accepted an 18-and-a-half-foot Douglas fir as the official White House Christmas tree. Also at the White House for the tree's delivery was John Wyckoff from Wyckoff’s Christmas Tree Farm in White Township. They will also have 4 Christmas tree on display at the White House after earning the grand champion in the 2013 National Christmas Tree Contest. It's the first time a tree grown in New Jersey has been displayed at the White House.

The official tree was presented by Christopher Botek, a second-generation Christmas tree farmer from Crystal Spring Tree Farm in Lehighton, Pa. The tree was hauled up the driveway by horse-drawn wagon and taken to the Blue Room, where it will stand as the main attraction of the White House Christmas decorations.

The Wyckoffs will donate a tree to be cut on Monday by Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher and Department of Children and Families Commissioner Allison Blake to Trees For Troops, a charity program that donates real Christmas trees to service members and their families in New Jersey and throughout the world.  In addition, the family will donate 20 trees to NORWESCAP Family Success Center in Phillipsburg for distribution to local families in need.

An army of volunteer decorators and White House staffers will participate in a weekend marathon of tree trimming, wreath hanging and other decorating to transform the building in time for a preview of the holiday decorations that's set for next week.

As in past years, many of the decorations will honor military families, who are getting a first look at the decorations on Wednesday.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report

 

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