The season is here! Families from all over the globe are working in the homes of their loved ones to celebrate the holiday season however, nothing compares to the preparations and planning put into getting it possible to get the White House ready for Christmas. Here’s everything you did not have known regarding Christmas at the White House Christmas tree, by the former White House florist Laura Dowling.
The White House Christmas tree
The initial White House Christmas tree was installed in the second-floor Yellow Oval Room in 1889. The time was 1889 and Benjamin Harrison was serving as the 23rd president of the United States. The tree was put up specifically for his children and decorated with candles as well as toys. In the past, it has become a more elaborate affair. The White House Christmas tree has grown to become a major event. Learn some little-known facts about the holiday. Learn more information about which president banned Christmas trees in the white house.
It all began with the Hoovers in the Blue Room
The First Lady Lou Henry Hoover started the unbroken tradition of setting up a Christmas tree within the Blue Room of the White House. In 1929, she ensured that the inaugural “official” tree was decorated with the best Christmas spirit.
The First Lady chooses the theme for each year.
The choice of decor for the White House during the Christmas season starts with the First Lady. It’s a custom that began in the first year of first lady Jaqueline Kennedy’s 1961. (She selected the “Nutcracker Suite” theme.) “[Kennedy’s] theme made a statement that was personal and meaningful.
It takes a whole year to plan, and five days to implement
You may be surprised to learn that it takes a whole year to design to plan the White House decorations. It requires lots of planning using sketches, designs, color palettes, and designs for each room and space in the White House. The process of planning is split into three phases which include development and design creation and implementation, and installation. After concepts have been proposed and then delivered to the first lady she decides on the theme of the year.
Volunteers are key
To meet the strict deadline by the time of the Christmas season over 100 volunteers assist in sorting the items, put up, put up as well as hanging White House Christmas tree ornaments every year. Volunteers are drawn from every corner of the nation for the chance to serve and also skip the Thanksgiving meals they enjoy with their family members at home. The volunteers are selected through a highly competitive and challenging procedure that requires them to send sincere and emotional messages to White House officials.
The prep work is completed on-site
In the five-day period of installation, the initial two days following Thanksgiving are dedicated to preparing and arranging all the decorations and wreaths, ribbons, tinsel, and flowers in the warehouse which is where they’re stored, as well as at the White House, where they’ll be displayed. For the next three days, volunteers are invited in and divided into groups for each room within the White House.
Accidents can happen
There are guidelines to be adhered to in order to ensure that the White House is a place of amazing American artworks and an official residence for the president of the United States.
It takes about 25 people to put up the tree.
We designed specific design concepts and plan of action specifically designed for The Blue Room tree, sourced materials and coordinated projects that were interactive (requesting greeting cards and other gifts from kids and ornaments from artists from across the nation), and selected a group of approximately 25 people for decorating the trees.
A Christmas tree can be picked in October.
Each year every year, every year the White House Florist and the Association of American Christmas Tree Growers choose the ideal tree that is in line with certain specifications. “The selection of the White House tree is a time-honored ritual and tradition that occurs each year in early October,” Dowling says. Dowling.
Sometimes the tree is simply too large
While the Association of American Christmas Tree Growers selects the ideal tree for Christmas, this year, the tree was too large for the White House. Around twelve Park Service personnel had to carry the tree from the North Portico door and across from the Grand Foyer and Cross Hall to the Blue Room. Because the tree was too large, several doors leading to from the White House had to be removed.
Pets from the First Family are featured in the decor
A gilded oak leaf rosette door surrounds made from 1,500 hand-made roses crafted from fallen leaves, and over 1,000 red velvet poinsettias made from recycled ribbon that we attached to garlands, wreaths, and topiaries.