Happy Holidays from the California Capitol

The California Capitol Christmas Tree (known as the California Capitol Holiday Tree between 1999 and 2003) is an annually erected decorated tree outside the

California State Capitol The California State Capitol is the seat of the California state government, located in Sacramento, the state capital of California. The building houses the chambers of the California State Legislature, made up of the Assembly and the Senat ...

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Initiated in 1931, the tree has been a tradition ever since and is decorated during the second week of December each year. In December 1999, during his first Christmas season in office, Governor

Gray Davis Joseph Graham "Gray" Davis Jr. (born December 26, 1942) is an American attorney and former politician who served as the 37th governor of California from 1999 until he was recalled and removed from office in 2003. He is the second state governor ...

changed the name of the tree to the California Capitol Holiday Tree, a spokesperson describing this as a name that "more accurately symbolizes the diversity of what the holidays are in California". After the

2003 California recall The 2003 California gubernatorial recall election was a special election permitted under California state law. It resulted in voters replacing incumbent Democratic Governor Gray Davis with Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican. The recall eff ...

, Gray Davis was replaced with

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...

, who changed the name back from the Christmas of 2004. A similar occurrence took place with the

Capitol Christmas Tree The Capitol Christmas Tree, formerly the Capitol Holiday Tree and nicknamed the People’s Tree, is the decorated tree that is erected annually on the West Front Lawn of the United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called the ...

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, which took on the "holiday" generic name from 1999–2005.

References

Individual Christmas trees Individual trees in California Culture of Sacramento, California Tourist attractions in Sacramento, California Recurring events established in 1931 1931 establishments in California Christmas in California {{SacramentoCA-stub