First lady Jill Biden on Monday unveiled White House decor that reflects the “magic, wonder and joy” of how children experience the holiday season.
Mrs. Biden said each room of the iconic residence is designed to help visitors “embrace their inner child.”
“Each room on display is designed to capture the pure, unfiltered delight and imagination of our childhoods, to see this time of year through the wondrous, sparkling eyes of children,” Mrs. Biden said at the official unveiling. “As guests enter the East Wing, they walk underneath the branches of a Christmas tree, as if they were a child again, gazing up in wonder at the twinkling lights and feeling the soft pine needles above.”
Other notable touches include letters to Santa that are “magically flying in and out of vintage mail boxes” in the ground floor corridor and multiple editions of ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, supplied by the Library of Congress, to mark the 200th anniversary of the story’s publication.
The White House Library honors more holiday books, while the Vermeil Room includes rotating United States Marine Band figures to represent the joy of music during the holidays.
The China Room features a “White House sweet shop” of holiday cakes, cookies and gingerbread, and the East Room has Advent calendars to count down to Christmas and a Neapolitan crèche, or Nativity scene, with more than 40 figurines dating to the 18th century.
The Red Room includes references to childhood craft-making, while the State Dining Room features workbenches, stools and ladders to represent Santas’ workshop.
Mrs. Biden unveiled the decorations in an official ceremony Monday. National Guard families were the first members of the public to see the decor, part of her “Joining Forces” initiative.
The White House holiday decor is a major annual undertaking that requires hundreds of volunteers. It is unveiled after Thanksgiving each year so visitors can enjoy it in the weeks leading to Christmas.
This year’s decor includes nearly 15,000 feet of ribbon, more than 350 candles, nearly 34,000 ornaments and over 22,100 bells, according to the White House.
There are 98 Christmas trees throughout the complex, and there are 72 wreaths on the north and south facades of the White House.
More than 142,000 holiday lights dot the trees, garlands, wreaths and displays in the complex.
The iconic Gingerbread White House required 40 sheets of sugar cookie dough. The gingerbread house is another homage to “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” and includes a sugar cookie replica of the book and Santa’s sleigh flying above the White House grounds.
The first Christmas trees featured on the White House tour are adorned with mirrored Gold Star ornaments and inscribed with the names of fallen service members.
The official White House tree, in the Blue Room, is a Fraser fir tree from Fleetwood, North Carolina, that 18½ feet tall.
“We hope you enjoy the holidays at the White House —’The People’s House,’ your house,” Mrs. Biden said. “May the memories made here remind us all of the blessing that is our nation.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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