The White House Christmas Tree: Things You Didn't Know

The White House Christmas Tree: Things You Didn’t Know. It’s the time of year! Families across the world are getting ready to prepare their homes for their beloved family members for the holiday season, however, it’s nothing in comparison to the efforts and preparations that go into getting The White House ready for Christmas. Here’s the complete information you didn’t know about the upcoming White House Christmas tree, created by ex-White House florist Laura Dowling.

The White House Christmas tree

The first White House Christmas tree was installed in the second-floor Yellow Oval Room in 1889. It was the year 1889 when Benjamin Harrison was serving as the 23rd president of the United States. The tree was specially erected for his children. It included candles and toys. It was more extravagant. The White House Christmas tree has been transformed into a major celebration. Discover some lesser-known details of the celebrations. Find out more about which president banned Christmas trees in the white house.

Hoovers are the originators of the Blue Room tree

The first lady Lou Henry Hoover started the tradition of having an uninterrupted Christmas tree adorned in the Blue Room of the White House. The year 1929 was the time she made sure that the first “official” tree was decorated with the most festive cheer.

The First Lady selects the theme of each year.

The choice of decorating the White House during the Christmas season begins with The First Lady. This tradition began with the first lady, Jaqueline Kennedy in 1961. It was fully representative of her exquisite taste and reflected a distinctively American sense of fashion.

It takes a year to create a plan, and it takes five days to implement

You might be shocked to learn that it may take an entire year to create all of the White House decorations. It takes a lot of planning with sketches as well as color palettes, designs, and plans for every area and room in the White House. The process of planning is split into three phases that include creation and design, installation, and implementation. After discussions, ideas are presented for the approval of the First Lady, she will decide the theme for the whole year.

Volunteers are key

In order to meet this deadline by the Christmas season, over 100 volunteers help sort the things, putting up, then installing, and finally place up White House Christmas tree ornaments each year. The volunteers come from all over the globe to help out and are also able to skip Thanksgiving dinners they enjoy with their families at home. The selection process for volunteers is an extremely competitive and difficult process, that demands constant emotions and touching messages to White House officials.

The preparation work is completed offsite

In the five days that are required for installation, the first two days following Thanksgiving are spent making and arranging the wreaths and decorations and ribbons, flowers, and tinsel in the warehouse where they’re stored, and in the White House, where they’ll be displayed.

Accidents do happen

There are guidelines that must be followed to make sure that in this regard, the White House is a place of extraordinary American art as well as the residence of Presidents of the United States. According to Dowling who is also the official White House florist under the Obama Administration.

Sometimes the tree is just too big.

The Association of American Christmas Tree Growers picks the best ornament for Christmas This year’s tree was too large to fit in the White House. Twelve Park Service personnel had to take the tree to at the North Portico door and across from the Grand Foyer and Cross Hall until it was delivered to The Blue Room.