Nine-year-old Chris Gabrielsen couldn't have guessed this summer that the ornament he created at 4-H camp from construction paper “with Christmas stuff all over it” would turn into an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C.
Gabrielsen was one of 400 youngsters from across the state of Montana who submitted an ornament for the Capitol Christmas tree, along with an entry form for a drawing for the trip - paid for by donations to the 2008 Capitol Christmas tree campaign.
“I'm going to flip a switch and there's going to be a lot of people gasping,” Gabrielsen said Monday, while taking a break from sightseeing. “It's going to be really, really bright.”
Gabrielsen, his mother, Carol, and twin brother, Kane, arrived at their motel in Washington late Sunday night after a scheduled three-hour layover more than doubled at the Denver airport when the airplane's captain refused to take off because of mechanical troubles and a second take-off was delayed because another airplane had hydraulic issues.
“That was their first airplane flight,” Carol Gabrielsen said. “Quite a way to start. We were just thankful that we were able to get here Sunday night. If we were unable to get on that flight, we would have lost a day or more.
“This is a trip of a lifetime for all of us,” she said. “We'll never be able to experience something like this again.”
Carol Gabrielsen was totally surprised when she picked up the phone in September to learn her son had won the trip.
“I didn't even know he'd entered,” she said. “I picked up the phone and the woman on the other end told me my son had won.”
“Won what?”
“Your son won an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C.”
“Which son? Won what?”
The woman told Carol that her son had made an ornament and won the contest to fly to Washington and flip the switch to light the Capitol Christmas Tree.
“My first question to Chris when he came home that night was, ‘Did you make an ornament?' ” she said. “I still couldn't hardly believe it ... and now that we're here, it's still a bit overwhelming that this happened.”
Carol's parents paid for an extra ticket so Chris' twin brother could share in the adventure. “It's been an awesome experience for them already and we've just arrived,” she said.
The tradition of the Capitol Christmas tree dates back to 1964, but it wasn't until 1979 that the “people's tree” came from different national forests around the country.
Each year a national forest is selected to host the tree. This year it was the Bitterroot National Forest's turn. Officials from the national forest are asked to choose someone to flip the switch.
When Chris Gabrielsen steps forward to do so, his mother doesn't have a bit of worry about how he'll do. Back home in Havre, she watched him step up on stage and offer his thanks to a crowd when the Capitol Christmas tree stopped for the night on its way to Washington.
And she's seen him hold his own with reporters and television news anchors.
“I know he's going to do just fine,” his mother said. “There's been a lot of time for the anticipation to build. A lot of time to wonder ... but now it just doesn't hardly feel real. We're finally here.”
“I know one thing for sure,” Gabrielsen said. “I'm never going to forget this.”
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