The Slatest

Capitol Christmas Tree Is Lit, So You Should Probably Get It Together and Put Yours Up Too

U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree is lit on the West Front December 3, 2013 in Washington, DC.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

When does the holiday season officially start? It seems to get earlier and earlier as stores opened their doors throughout the Thanksgiving holiday, proving that nothing is sacred. It’s up to personal discretion of course whether Black Friday or Cyber Monday kicks off the Christmas countdown. But, if you were still looking for an indication that the holiday season is on, the Capitol Christmas Tree went live on Tuesday evening. So, you can take this as de facto Congressional approval that it’s ok to untangle strings of lights and dust off the ornaments now. The Capitol Tree is, however, a mere warm up to the National Christmas Tree lighting in front of the White House later this week, according to Washingtonian magazine. Hard to argue that the National Tree is the head honcho in the tree department, after all, it has its own Twitter account.