White House Decorations Unveiled: Reflect, Rejoice, Renew

First Lady Michelle Obama, surrounded by members of the U.S. Marine Corps from the Toys for Tots program, greeted guests and thanked volunteers in the Grand Foyer of the White House at the unveiling of the White House decorations today.

Today, First Lady Michelle Obama, looking festive in a jade green sleeveless dress, unveiled the gorgeous decorations in the White House that will be seen by more than 50,000 guests who visit the historic home during this holiday season. Holding a press conference in the Grand Foyer of the White House, Mrs. Obama talked about the planning and care that’s gone into these beautiful decorations and spoke of two causes that are particularly important to the First Family.

“We’ve actually been planning this day, and the holiday season, since the summer,” Mrs. Obama said. “Our starting point was a very simple idea:  that we include as many people, in as many places, in as many ways as we can.”

Here’s what happened: The First Lady and her staff dug deep into the White House warehouses where they took about 800 ornaments remaining from previous administrations and sent them to 60 community groups throughout the country to decorate.

Mrs. Obama thanked the volunteers.

“We asked them to decorate them to pay tribute to a favorite local landmark and then send them back to us for display here at the White House,” she said. “And today, thanks to the East Wing and Residence staff, and 92 volunteers from 24 states who spent more than 3,400 hours decorating over the last several days, we have ornaments hanging on the tree behind me, throughout the White House, and everywhere else that include the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, the Kennedy Center - Space Center, as well as some less known places like Davy Crockett Park in Tennessee, Pompey’s Pillar in Billings, Montana, and one of my favorites, the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.” 

This year’s White House Gingerbread House features the South Portico and special additions, including Bo, the First Dog.

In addition to the official White House Christmas tree, one of the favorite traditions at the White House was also revealed: “It’s the gingerbread masterpiece by our brilliant chef Bill Yosses and his team,” Mrs. Obama said. The gingerbread house holds a few surprises, but we’ll get back to that later.

Reflecting on a Wonderful Year

This year’s theme for the White House décor is Reflect, Rejoice, Renew. Mrs. Obama explained why she selected this theme. “For the Obama family, Christmas and the New Year has always been a time to reflect on our many blessings, to rejoice in the pleasure of spending time with our family and our friends, and to renew our commitment to one another and to the causes that we believe in.  And I wanted to continue that part of the tradition during our first holiday season here at the White House. And this year has been filled with an infinite number of blessings for me and my family,” she said.

Mrs. Obama also said the First Family is focusing on supporting local food banks and the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program. “The President and I are urging everyone to join us in these efforts, or to find some way to give back some time during this holiday season.”

White House Christmas Tree

The official White House Christmas tree, a Douglas fir that’s 18½ feet high and nearly 13 feet wide, is from Shepherdstown, WVA. To see video of the tree being delivered last Friday to the North Portico of the White House by horse drawn carriage, as is customary, click here

Kim Fawley, one of the many volunteers who did a beautiful job of helping to decorate the White House, shared secrets about decorating the White House Christmas tree, which is in the Blue Room.

“This room was filled with boxes, scaffolding and cherry pickers,” said Kim Fawley, a volunteer, who is a 7th grade civics teacher in Broadway, VA, in the Shenandoah Valley. “We started last Friday taking the ornaments out of the wrappers and putting on the wire hangers.” She explained that in addition to the beautiful hand-decorated ornaments - some were decoupaged, some painted or adorned in other ways - gold Christmas balls were hung towards the inside of the tree and clear glass balls were hung closer to the outside so they’d reflect the low-energy lights on the tree. This year’s theme was reflected on blue ribbons tied to the ornaments. Reflect, Rejoice, Renew was hand- or machine-stitched by Girl Scouts onto the blue ribbons, Fawley said.

It looked like one giant gold ribbon crowned the tree, but it’s really four gold bows tied at the top. And what appeared to be one continuous golden ribbon circling the tree is actually 6-foot sections of ribbon, she shared.

Me with the spectacular White House Christmas tree

Gingerbread White House

“This year we’ve included something a little bit different.  In addition to the gingerbread White House we also have the White House Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn, a shadow box that lets you look into the gingerbread White House and view the State Dining Room,” Mrs. Obama said. And as she just learned this morning, a little replica of Bo, made of marzipan.

White House Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses describes what went into making the White House Gingerbread House.

A team of pastry chefs worked on this gingerbread house under the guidance of Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses.

Here are some fun facts that Chef Yosses shared:

• The White House gingerbread house weighs 390 pounds
• The gingerbread alone weighs 140 pounds
• The white chocolate that covers it weighs 250 pounds
• It’s based on the design by the James Hoban, the architect of the White House
• The furniture in the State Dining Room is made of dark chocolate
• The windows are hand carved or molded
• It took six weeks to create

“We cooked the gingerbread until it was really crispy. Then we let it sit on a rack for a few weeks (to dry out). It’s really stale gingerbread,” Yosses said with a laugh, adding that if it were fresh, moist gingerbread, the whole thing could collapse.

“The Kitchen Garden is a huge part of our life here in the White House. The vegetables are all the things that were harvested with local school kids,” he said. “I think we’re almost up to 800 pounds of vegetables we’ve taken out of the garden.”

Yosses mentioned that the miniature White House Kitchen Garden replicates the many vegetables grown in the garden, including carrots, radishes, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, and lettuces, among other veggies. “Students created the (gingerbread) garden,” he said. “We gave them a lesson in marzipan,” and they made the veggies.

At the end of the season, the gingerbread house will go to the White House Visitor Center on 15th Street so many can see it. 

It Feels Like Christmas

Other beautiful sights throughout the State Floor include this mantle, covered in cranberry garland in the Red Room…

The treatment has a twist this year. Unlike previous years, when the tradition was to include a cranberry tree, see our blog from last year, the Obamas embellished the mantle with cranberry garland and created cranberry wreaths around the necks of the carved figures that support the mantel.

In the Green Room, lovely arrangements of amaryllis adorn the side tables.

In the East Room, the crèche is displayed in all its glory…

the four fireplaces that grace the historic space are adorned with fresh garlands that integrate blue hydrangea, seeded eucalyptus, and beaded fruit. Sixty-inch wreaths were suspended with silk cord, and hung behind antique torchieres to complement the garland on the mantels. 

Even the Grand Staircase is festooned with beautiful garland.

In the State Dining Room, in addition to the magnificent gingerbread house, two Fraser Fir trees, beautifully decorated, flank the famous portrait of Abraham Lincoln by William Cogswell. 

In a word, the White House looks magical!