First Lady Jill Biden Unveils ‘We the People’ White House CHRISTMAS Decorations
“The soul of our nation is, and has always been, ‘We the People,’” the first lady said at a White House event honoring the volunteers who decorated over Thanksgiving weekend. "And that is what inspired this year’s White House holiday decoration.”
During an event at the White House on Monday, the first lady revealed the transformational work of volunteer decorators. The media were given a sneak peek.
Public rooms are dedicated to unifying forces: honoring and remembering deceased loved ones, words and stories, kindness and gratitude, food and traditions, nature and recreation, songs and sounds, unity and hope, faith and light, and children.
A burst of pine aroma hits visitors as they step inside the East Wing and come upon trees adorned with mirrored Gold Star ornaments bearing the names of fallen service members.
The decorations include more than 83,000 twinkling lights on trees, garlands, wreaths and other displays, 77 Christmas trees and 25 wreaths on the exterior of the executive mansion.
A copy of the Declaration of Independence is on display in the library, while the always-show-stopping gingerbread White House includes a sugar cookie replica of Philadelphia's Independence Hall, where the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were signed. The Constitution opens with the phrase, "We the People."
In the Blue Room, the official White House Christmas tree — an 18 1/2-foot Concolor fir from Auburn, Pennsylvania — is decorated to represent unity and hope with handmade renderings of the official birds from all 57 territories, states and the District of Columbia.
The State Dining Room is dedicated to the next generation — children — and trees there are decorated with ornaments that are self-portraits of the students of the 2021 Teachers of the Year, "ensuring that children see themselves" in the décor, the White House said.
Hanging from the fireplace in the State Dining Room are the Biden family Christmas stockings.
A new addition to the White House collection this year is a menorah, which is lit nightly during the eight-day Jewish festival of Hanukkah. White House carpenters built the menorah out of wood that was saved from a Truman-era renovation and sterling silver candle cups.
Some 50,000 visitors are expected to pass through the White House for the holidays, including tourists and guests invited to nearly a month’s worth of receptions. Among them will be French President Emmanuel Macron, who will meet with President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday and be honored at a state dinner, the first of the Biden administration.
More than 150 volunteers, including two of the first lady’s sisters, helped decorate the White House during the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
