The 20-foot White House Christmas tree arrived by a 2-horse drawn carriage at the North Portico of the White House and was met by First Lady Laura Bush Sunday afternoon .
The official White House Christmas tree will be decorated and displayed in the Blue Room with decorations provided by artists around the country.
Mrs. Bush, wearing a red coat and holding an umbrella, said that while this is the first event of the season, she would reveal the theme of this year’s decorations on Wednesday .
The North Carolina grown Fraser fir was selected by the chief usher in October from River Ridge Tree Farms in Creston, North Carolina; This being the 11th time the blue room Christmas tree has come from North Carolina.
President Bush did not venture out in the rainy weather to see the arrival, but his spokesperson said “he’s looking forward to the holidays”.
The National Christmas Tree Association has presented a tree to the White House every year since 1966, when Lyndon Johnson was president.

NC State vs. Miami-Florida

Russell Wilson threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as he led the North Carolina State Wolfpack to a 38-28 win over the Hurricanes of Miami-Florida in ACC action at Carter-Finley Stadium.
Wilson completed 11-of-23 passing for the Wolfpack (6-6, 4-4 ACC) for 220 yards and survived five sacks on the afternoon. Wilson also picked up 58 yards on 16 carries, although he ended up losing 55 yards due to the sacks.
The Hurricanes (7-5, 4-4) were paced by Javarris James and his 65 yards and two touchdowns on 16 attempts, while Jacory Harris made good on 12-of-20 passing for 138 yards and a score, but he was sacked twice and picked off two times in the setback.
Midway through the first quarter Andre Brown scored the first of his two touchdowns as he made his way into the end zone on a two-yard run to give NC State a 7-0 advantage.
Later in the frame Miami battled back with a 69-yard touchdown pass from Robert Marve to Dedrick Epps to knot the score at 7-7. The Hurricanes followed that up with a one-yard TD run by James to make the score 14-0.
The Wolfpack then scored 13 straight points, beginning with a 28-yard touchdown run by Wilson and a 39-yard field goal by Josh Czajkowski to give the home team a 17-14 edge at the break.
Czajkowski knocked through the second of his three field goals to begin the third, this time from 24 yards out.
With 6:58 remaining in the third quarter James hit the end zone again, this time from a yard out, to give Miami a narrow 21-20 advantage.
However, once again NC State notched the next three scores to move out to an insurmountable lead. The run began with a 32-yard touchdown catch by Owen Spencer and with a successful two-point conversion the squad moved ahead by seven at 28-21. Czajkowski converted a 42-yard field goal to begin play in the fourth frame and Brown capped a five-play, 32-yard drive with a four-yard TD run with just 2:35 remaining in the contest.
Harris tossed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Laron Byrd less than two minutes later for the Hurricanes, but by then it was too late in the 10-point decision.
NC State generated 439 yards of total offense on the day, while the defense for the Pack held Miami to just 4-of-12 on third down opportunities.

A turf battle between state Treasurer Richard Moore and state Attorney General Roy Cooper has cost North Carolina the chance to lead a class action lawsuit against mortgage backer Freddie Mac.
At issue is which state agency should handle lawsuits seeking to protect the state’s pension funds.
On Monday, a federal judge in New York found that North Carolina had the most money at stake in the Freddie Mac suit – $18 million – but he denied Moore’s request that North Carolina be the lead plaintiff because of Cooper’s objections.
“Given the uncertainty surrounding the Treasurer’s legal authority to act on the (N.C. retirement system’s) behalf, the Court cannot accept his certification that (the retirement system) is willing and able to serve as lead plaintiff,” U.S. District Court Judge John Keenan wrote.
The lead plaintiff takes control in a class action suit. Moore said in a statement he was disappointed at losing that position.
“It is unfortunate that this decision means North Carolina cannot use every tool and resource available to get the largest recovery possible for our 820,000 pensioners,” Moore said. “Protecting members of the retirement systems and their investments is at the heart of the Department’s mission.”
Keenan’s ruling could affect a second class action suit filed in September against the officers of the other government supported mortgage company, Fannie Mae. Moore petitioned the court to be the lead plaintiff in that case earlier this month, because the state has lost more than $70 million in investments with Fannie Mae.
Both suits accuse the companies’ top officials of misrepresentation to investors.
Like the earlier suit against Freddie Mac, Moore has hired an out-of-state law firm and a local firm to represent the pension funds, which serve 820,000 current and retired state and local government employees, including teachers and firefighters. And also like the earlier suit, Cooper’s office has filed a letter with the court saying Moore lacked the authority to take action without the approval of Cooper and Gov. Mike Easley.
Cooper’s spokeswoman, Noelle Talley, said that Cooper’s office has been trying to get Moore to develop a competitive bidding process for the hiring of outside counsel.
Documentation provided by Moore’s office also suggests that he made such a proposal in March, but did not hear back from Cooper’s office.
Meanwhile, Moore’s staff says he needed to quickly sign on to the class action suits or the state could lose out on damages.
Cooper’s office would also likely hire out-of-state lawyers if the state became the lead plaintiff. Talley said the office has a competitive bidding process for the selection of outside counsel.
Top firms in securities litigation have given to Cooper’s campaigns.
This year alone, they chipped in roughly $45,000, according to his campaign reports.
The local firm Moore hired for both lawsuits includes former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker as one of its partners. Wicker and his family were big campaign contributors to Moore’s campaigns.
Wicker said he thinks his firm, SZD Wicker, got the business because it specializes in securities litigation. Keith Anthony, the firm attorney who is handling both cases, said the state needs local representation to make sure its position is protected and to comply with requests for records and other information.
But Anthony said there may not be much of a need for a local law firm if North Carolina’s retirement system is not designated as the lead plaintiff.