Inside this year’s White House holiday decor
Members of the US Marine Band play in Grand Foyer.
By Betsy Klein, CNN
(CNN) — It took 150 volunteers working for one week, with 25,000 feet of ribbon, 120 pounds of gingerbread, more than 10,000 butterflies and a 6,000-piece Lego portrait of President Donald Trump’s likeness to deck the White House halls this year.
The theme for first lady Melania Trump’s fifth holiday season: “Home is where the heart is,” according to her office. This year’s decor largely plays it safe, using traditional twinkling lights and big velvet bows after the first lady’s design choices faced scrutiny in the past.
After a three-month hiatus due to the president’s demolition of the East Wing and ongoing construction of his new ballroom, tours of the People’s House will reopen to the public on Tuesday, following an abbreviated and reimagined route. The sounds of construction hummed in the background as a military band played holiday classics during a media tour of the decor Monday morning.
In years past, guests have entered through the East Wing and walked along the East Colonnade, touring historic spaces on the ground floor such as the White House Library and the Vermeil Room. But with the East Wing now razed to make way for the 90,000-square-foot ballroom, visitors will enter through the White House’s front doors.
Room by room
The revamped tour begins in the East Room, paying homage to the country’s big birthday next year with an “America 250” theme. Four evergreen trees with “America 250”-themed bases are lit with twinkling lights and red, white and blue ornaments and bows.
The Green Room has a “family fun” inspiration, according to the office of the first lady, featuring two 6,000-piece Lego portraits of Donald Trump and President George Washington, along with a castle made of cards and trees made of dominoes.
This year’s official White House Christmas tree, hailing from Michigan, is the star of the Blue Room. The concolor fir is decorated with blue velvet bows, sparkling stars, and large frosted ornaments featuring each state and territory’s official flower and bird. The room’s light fixture had to be removed to accommodate the 18-foot tree.
The Red Room pays homage to the first lady’s “Be Best” platform, with swarms of blue butterflies adorning a tree, the mantle and lit topiaries.
And the icing on the cake, or cookie, in this case — 120 pounds of gingerbread in the State Dining Room forms a White House replica meticulously constructed by pastry chefs. It includes an inside look at the Yellow Oval Room in the residence with a fondant Christmas tree, gold and crystal chandelier, and pale pink sofa.
Volunteers assemble
Volunteers from across the country scrambled through the Thanksgiving weekend to prepare the White House for its holiday debut.
Small-business owner Amber Welch of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was one of 150 volunteers selected from a pool of 12,000 applicants, who were then split into teams assigned to different rooms.
Their work began November 24 at an off-site location in the Washington, DC, area filled with supplies and decoration storage. Welch was tasked with the Blue Room, and spent days tying hundreds of bows and affixing wire to tree ornaments, among other projects.
“It’s this crazy feeling of patriotism, in awe that you’re standing here, where your forefathers have stood in this room, and what the use of this room has been. It’s an emotional moment that just brings you so much pride and joy in your country,” Welch told CNN on Sunday evening.
She continued: “And ultimate humility, to think, oh, my gosh — so many historical things have happened here, and this is my part to play.”
Inspiration from ‘motherhood and business’
Though Melania Trump has spent the majority of this term away from the White House in Palm Beach, Florida, or New York, the first lady was deeply involved in planning this year’s holiday display. Trump’s inspiration for the theme, her office said, was “the joys, challenges, and frequent motion derived from motherhood and business.”
“The constant movement has taught me that home is not merely a physical space; rather, it is the warmth and comfort I carry within, regardless of my surroundings,” Trump said in a statement that comes days after she announced the launch of a new production company, “Muse Films.”
Trump has been steadily accelerating her public appearances in recent weeks as she indicated that the multimillion-dollar deal she signed with Amazon for an eponymous documentary earlier this year has taken up much of her attention.
“The silver screen and I have been in deep conversation lately,” Trump said last month in remarks accepting Fox Nation’s “Patriot of the Year” award.
Trump is an executive producer of the project, signaling that the documentary is being made with her full participation — and editorial control.
The “Melania” documentary, which debuts in theaters in January, is directed by Brett Ratner and marks the filmmaker’s first major project since 2017, when he was accused of sexual misconduct by numerous women. Ratner has denied the allegations.
Trump’s decor history
During the first Trump administration, the first lady in 2017 went with a classic “Time-Honored Traditions” theme, featuring Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1866 edition of “A Christmas Carol” and a tribute to first lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s “Nutcracker Suite” 1961 theme.
The 2018 theme of patriotism — with an overarching red motif — came under fire for the memorable blood-red trees lining the East Colonnade that critics compared to “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
“We are in the 21st century and everybody has a different taste,” the first lady later said of the choice.
Patriotism was again the theme in 2019, with stars, stripes and giant golden eagles. Decorations in 2020 paid tribute to essential workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, including a tree with ornaments shaped like a trash truck, scientist, caregiver, lab coat and nurse hat.
Trump has also privately lamented the holiday requirements for a presidential spouse. She was secretly recorded in the summer of 2018 expressing frustration at being criticized for her husband’s family separation policy at the US-Mexico border while needing to perform traditional first lady duties.
“I’m working … my a** off on the Christmas stuff, that you know, who gives a f**k about the Christmas stuff and decorations? But I need to do it, right?” she said in tapes recorded by former friend and adviser Stephanie Winston Wolkoff.
Trump continued, “OK, and then I do it and I say that I’m working on Christmas and planning for the Christmas and they said, ‘Oh, what about the children that they were separated?’ Give me a f**king break.”
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