WASHINGTON - Join friends and family on the Ellipse in President’s Park to enjoy musical entertainment, tour Santa’s Workshop, code your own light show on holiday trees, and admire ornament displays celebrating the history, heritage, and culture of every U.S. state, territory, and the District of Columbia along the Pathway of Peace. The Pathway of Peace is open 10 a.m.-10 p.m. daily through January 1. All the activities are free and open to the public.
Follow @TheNationalTree on Twitter and visit www.thenationaltree.org for the most up-to-date information on the month-long holiday celebration in President’s Park, one of America’s 401 national parks.
Code Your Own Light Show Along the Pathway of Peace
Thanks to Google’s Made with Code, the premier sponsor of the 2014 National Christmas Tree Lighting, girls across the country will experience the beauty of code by creating the light show on the state or territory trees at President’s Park. Girls can select the shape, size and color of the lights, and animate different patterns using introductory programming language and their designs will appear live on the trees. Code the trees at one of the on-site coding stations through December 19. Coding terminals are open weekdays 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. and weekends from noon until 10 p.m. Can’t make it in person? Head to madewithcode.com to create a light display from your computer. Designs will appear live on the trees throughout the month of December.
Admire Ornament Displays Along the Pathway of Peace
Artists and volunteers have given their time and talents to create one-of-a-kind ornaments that symbolize the history, heritage and culture of every U.S. state, territory, and the District of Columbia. Walk along the Pathway of Peace and enjoy the ornament displays. Visitors can also find state and territory ornaments hanging on a Christmas tree in the White House Visitor Center.
Musical Entertainment
Tap your toe or sing along to performances featuring jazz, choral music and dancers, starting Wednesday, December 10 at 5 p.m., and continuing through December 22. Visit www.nps.gov/whho for the daily schedule.
Santa’s Workshop
Families are invited to visit Santa’s workshop where his elves are busy making toys for all the good little girls and boys. Santa will not be on site since he is at the North Pole getting ready for Christmas. Kids can take a picture in Santa’s chair and leave him a letter with their Christmas wish list. Santa’s Workshop, presented by, is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 12:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m through December 21.
National Christmas Tree Railroad
For the 21st year, the model National Christmas Tree Railroad, always on-time to deliver good cheer, will chug around the National Christmas Tree.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
