WASHINGTON — After a gray, rainy day at the U.S. Capitol, the clouds parted, revealing a sunset that one could call borrowed from the desert skies of Nevada. A bald eagle circled overhead, squirrels foraged under a manicured landscape,

A Bellevue family donated its nearly 40-foot-tall blue spruce to the Green Bay Packers for the annual Festival of Lights. The tree was harvested and transported 10 miles to its place of honor on Bob Harlan Plaza at Lambeau Field.

Families and residents from all across the Pahrump Valley welcomed the holiday season this past weekend with the Community Christmas Tree Lighting, where hundreds gathered in anticipation of a first glimpse of the twinkle and shine of the light-festooned evergreen.