JEFFERSON — The official White House Christmas tree is making it arrival straight from a prize-winning farm in the North Carolina mountains.

First lady Michelle Obama on Friday is expected to welcome the tree and its growers from Peak Farms in Ashe County. Farm owners Rusty and Beau Estes are this year's grand champion winners of the National Christmas Tree Association, which has provided the White House tree each year since 1966.

This year's official tree is a 19-foot Fraser fir grown near Jefferson that was selected in early October and harvested this month. It will be displayed through the holiday season in the Blue Room of the White House.

The White House tree in 2008 was a 20-foot Fraser fir grown in Ashe County