It certainly looked a lot like Christmas in Grand Junction Thursday morning, minus the snow of course.

But Santa and Mrs. Claus were on hand as the U.S. Forest Service displayed Colorado's U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree outside the Mesa Mall.

A crowd gathered to catch a glimpse of the intimidating Engelmann Spruce tree, which is traveling in one of the largest freight trucks you might ever see.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, this year's tree is 74-years-old and stands 73-feet-high. The trunk's diameter is 28-inches.

Unfortunately, only a small portion of the tree was unveiled due to the challenge of loading such large cargo.

There's a canvas covering the truck which allows people to spread messages of goodwill and sign their names before the tree makes its way across the country.

KJCT spoke with a local middle School teacher who said his students created over 130 ornaments to decorate the Capitol Christmas Tree once it reaches its destination.

"I thought this was fantastic for our kids to have a chance to design something that would go on the National Christmas Tree, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for them to do that," said Kevin Elisha, who teaches technology education for Mount Garfield Middle School.

"They'll see pictures in the newspaper, on the news and things, and they'll be able to say that, 'I have an ornament on that Christmas tree in Washington D.C.'," Elisha added.

On Thursday, the U.S. Forest Service will have the tree on display from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in Montrose.

From there, the D.C.-bound tree will make its 5,004 mile trip across the nation to the Capitol's West Lawn.

Each year, one National Forest is given the honor of providing the nation with the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. This year, the White River National Forest was chosen and the tree came from Meeker, Colorado.