Current:Home > InvestJill Biden says White House decor designed for visitors to see the holidays through a child’s eyes -Quantum Capital Pro
Jill Biden says White House decor designed for visitors to see the holidays through a child’s eyes
View
Date:2025-04-12 13:11:29
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ninety-eight Christmas trees, more than 142,000 twinkling lights and nearly 34,000 ornaments deck the halls of the White House in ways that Jill Biden hopes will inspire visitors to embrace their inner child and experience the “magic, wonder and joy” of the season. It’s her theme for the holiday decor.
“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,” she says in remarks prepared for a Monday afternoon reception to formally unveil the decor and thank hundreds of designers and decorators who volunteered to spend last week transforming the executive mansion.
Throughout the decor are numerous nods to the 200th anniversary of the publication in 1823 of the poem and book, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
The Library of Congress provided samples of editions from the past 200 years that are on display along the ground floor corridor. The traditional gingerbread White House recreates the classic story by featuring a sugar cookie replica of the book along with Santa’s sleigh flying above the grounds. Santa’s sleigh and his reindeer are also suspended above the Grand Foyer.
The White House released a fact sheet and was allowing the news media to see all the trees, lights and ornaments before the first lady’s event. National Guard families, who were joining Biden as part of Joining Forces, her White House initiative to show appreciation for military families, will be among the first members of the public to see the decorations.
Children of these and other military families were also to be treated to a performance by the cast of the North American tour of the Disney musical “Frozen.”
One of the first Christmas trees visitors will see is decorated with wooden gold star ornaments engraved with the names of fallen service members.
The official White House Christmas tree, an 18.5-foot (5.6-meter) Fraser fir, takes its usual place in the Blue Room, where the chandelier has to be taken down in order to accommodate its height. The massive tree this year celebrates cheerful scenes, landscapes and neighborhoods from across the country.
The State Dining Room has been transformed into Santa’s workshop, with elves’ workbenches, stools and ladders circling the Christmas trees and tools and gifts-in-progress rounding out the decor.
The dining room is also the customary stage for the gingerbread White House, made using 40 sheets each of sugar cookie dough and gingerbread dough, 90 pounds (41 kilograms) of pastillage, a cake decorating paste, 30 pounds (14 kilograms) of chocolate and 50 pounds (23 kilograms) of royal icing.
The library honors the tradition of bedtime stories with golden moons and shimmering stars dangling overhead while the China Room becomes a sweet shop featuring flavors and scents of the season wafting from the holiday cakes, cookies and gingerbread filling the space.
The official White House Menorah is on display in the Cross Hall, which runs between the State Dining Room and the East Room.
In her prepared remarks, the first lady says she knows that magic, wonder and joy can be hard to find, especially as the days grow shorter, the weather turns colder “and our hearts grow heavy in the face of a tumultuous world.”
“But it’s in these times, when we are searching for hope and healing, that we need those points of light the most, that we need each other the most,” she says. “It’s in these times that I hope you remember, if even just for a moment or a season, how you saw the world as a child.”
Nearly 15,000 feet of ribbon, more than 350 candles and over 22,000 bells were used for the decorations, the White House said. More than 142,425 lights twinkle on trees, garlands, wreaths and other displays.
Seventy-two wreaths sporting red ribbons adorn the north and south exteriors of the White House.
veryGood! (37)
Related
- Person accused of accosting Rep. Nancy Mace at Capitol pleads not guilty to assault charge
- The Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Climate Change. Is it Ready to Decide Which Courts Have Jurisdiction?
- Supreme Court blocks student loan forgiveness plan, dealing blow to Biden
- Geothermal: Tax Breaks and the Google Startup Bringing Earth’s Heat into Homes
- Global Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires
- ‘We Need to Be Bold,’ Biden Says, Taking the First Steps in a Major Shift in Climate Policy
- This And Just Like That Star Also Just Learned About Kim Cattrall's Season 2 Cameo
- North Dakota colleges say Minnesota's free tuition plan catastrophic for the state
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- A Seismic Pollution Shift Presents a New Problem in Illinois’ Climate Fight
Ranking
- Moving abroad can be expensive: These 5 countries will 'pay' you to move there
- Trump EPA Proposes Weaker Coal Ash Rules, More Use at Construction Sites
- Abbott Elementary’s Tyler James Williams Addresses Dangerous Sexuality Speculation
- WHO questions safety of aspartame. Here's a list of popular foods, beverages with the sweetener.
- US appeals court rejects Nasdaq’s diversity rules for company boards
- Prepare to Abso-f--king-lutely Have Thoughts Over Our Ranking of Sex and the City's Couples
- A Timeline of Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall's Never-Ending Sex and the City Feud
- 12 Things From Goop's $29,677+ Father's Day Gift Ideas We'd Actually Buy
Recommendation
What to watch: O Jolie night
Arkansas Residents Sick From Exxon Oil Spill Are on Their Own
Experts Divided Over Safety of Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant
Experts Divided Over Safety of Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant
Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
See pictures and videos of the Canadian wildfires and their impact across the planet
Climate Scientists Take Their Closest Look Yet at the Warming Impact of Aviation Emissions
In Remote Town in Mali, Africa’s Climate Change Future is Now