First Ladies...Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama

Good Afternoon! Let's continue 
our White House Tree Tour, 
shall we?

We will begin with First Lady 
Hillary Clinton. In 1995, Mrs. 
Clinton chose the theme: "A 
Visit from Saint Nicholas." The 
theme was inspired by the book 
and a family tradition of the 
President reading the story to
Chelsea and then to the school
children who visited the White 
House.

The ornaments for this tree came 
from architects--they were based 
on the home in the story and needle
pointers made stockings to tie
in with the phrase" the stockings
were hung by the chimney with care."

                  ~~~~~~~~~

In 2001, First Lady Laura Bush's
theme  plans change somewhat 
due to 9/11.
Her theme: "Home for the Holi-
days" took on a stronger signifi-
cance due to being at war. But 
even with the White House closed, 
tours and parties cancelled and 
few visitors to the White House, 
Christmas decorating did go on. 

It was a white Christmas with
shades of pure white, pearl white.
off-white and grayish white plus 
splashes of silver, gold and
crystals. White ornaments 
depicting homes like the 
Biltmore Mansion in North 
Carolina and places of
worship were contributed by 
various artists around the 
country for the Blue Room 
tree.
             ~~~~~~~~~

Barack and Michelle Obama
came to the White House in 
2009 as the President and 
First Lady.

Having never been to the 
White House and wanting 
to share it with everyone,
the First Lady chose the theme:
 "Reflect, Rejoice and Renew"
which also was a family theme 
in the Obama household.
Being a proponent of healthy 
eating, Mrs. Obama wanted to 
incorporate the White House 
garden into the decor, she also 
wanted to repurpose existing 
ornaments from past Christ-
mas'.
Hundreds of large plastic balls 
were found in the White House 
warehouse and these were 
distributed to sixty community 
groups to decorate, they were 
asked to illustrate an important 
place or monument by decoupaging 
the ornaments with pictures 
representing their subject.
All total there were 600 ornaments 
decorated by various groups. Before 
they were hung on the Blue Room 
tree the ornaments were strung on 
blue ribbon that Girl Scouts embroid-
ered "reflect, rejoice and renew" in 
several languages. A wide gold ribbon 
encircled the tree, culminating in a 
big bow as the tree topper.


There you have it---White House 
trees through five decades.
Hope you have enjoyed these posts,
if you missed one scroll backwards.


~Keep on Dreaming~