’Tis the Season
Celebrating Capitol traditions.
By Jillian Beck
At the start of the holiday season each year, a horse-drawn carriage
shepherds several Texas-grown pine trees to the Capitol. A century-old
tradition, the pines stand on display for the public in the House
Chambers, and for the past two decades, a specially designed ornament
has adorned the festive foliage.
The custom dates back to 1996, when Nelda Laney, whose husband, Pete
Laney, was then Speaker of the House, started the ornament program as a
way to bring in non-tax revenue to help maintain and preserve the
recently restored sunset-red granite building. Laney was inspired by the
annual White House ornament and thought Texas could make its own lasting
tradition. She was right.
Since its creation, more than 1.1 million ornaments have been sold,
bringing in more than $8 million to support the State Preservation
Board’s education and preservation initiatives, according to board
officials, with annual sales only second to the White House’s. “I was
certainly hopeful it would last forever, but I did not expect that
numbers would climb as quickly as they did,” Laney told the Texas
Bar Journal in 2013.
Laney, affectionately known as the “first lady of West Texas,” died in
August, but her memory lives on with the enduring preservation program
she started 20 years ago. “I’ve always said,” Laney remarked in 2013,
“‘That’s what I want on my tombstone—the Capitol ornament lady.’”
The 2016 ornament celebrates the longstanding tradition launched by
Laney and features a tree decorated with lone stars, garlands, and
Capitol ornaments from years past. For more information, go to texascapitolgiftshop.com.
TBJ