Photo by afagen

Come December 6, President Obama will head down to the Ellipse for the annual lighting of the National Christmas Tree.

The event—which includes performances by national performers and the U.S. military band—may be out in the open, but it still requires tickets to attend. The tickets are given out at random, and the sign-up for the ticket lottery starts this morning at 10 a.m.

The National Christmas Tree hasn’t has a lot of luck in the last two years. The tree that had stood in the Ellipse since 1978 died in 2011 when it was partially knocked over by high winds, and the tree put in to replace it only lasted until this May, when it died of “transplant shock.” The new Christmas tree—a Colorado spruce—should be planted this month.