Every
year during the holiday season, up to 70,000 people flock to the White House to
get a glimpse of the year’s Christmas decorations. The decorating began in the
1960’s when Jackie Kennedy chose the “Nutcracker” theme for her daughter,
Caroline. Last year’s theme “Joy to All” paid tribute to the Armed Forces and
their families. Trees adorned with red, white, and blue yarn, patriotic
ornaments and ornaments decorated by military children living on bases across
the world.
This
year’s theme is “Gather Around”, to remember the stories and traditions that
bring friends and family together over the holiday season. The season of giving
celebrates those who have served our country and the history of our nation.
Eighty three volunteers decorate the twenty four trees scattered throughout the
White House. Going along with the “Gather Around” theme special trees made out
of four hundred and fifty repurposed books remind us of the stories we like to
tell over the holidays. The repurposed books will be donated to a local school’s
book drive next year to continue the cycle of storytelling.
There
are two rooms devoted to honor military families. In the East Visitor Entrance
guests are greeted with the Armed Forces Tree, adorned with ornaments placed by
Gold Star Families (families of those who have sacrificed their lives for our
country) that represent all five military branches. Visitors are encouraged to
pen postcards that will be sent abroad to service men and women who are
currently on active duty. The Blue Room also honors military families. The 18
1/2 foot tall Douglas Fir from Lehighton, Pennsylvania, the official White
House Christmas Tree is also in the Blue Room. The tree is decorated with over
2,000 patriotic ornaments sent in from children living on military bases
representing their favorite family holiday traditions.
Another
White House tradition, the replica gingerbread house sits on a creamy white fireplace
covered in cookies. The chefs used 300 pounds of dough to create the edible
replica. Visitors can peer into the large window to see the miniature rooms. On
the outside of the house sits the President’s two Portuguese Water Dogs, Bo and
Sunny. Next to them there is a working water fountain and blown sugar pine
trees.
The
unveiling of this year’s holiday decorations began in early December with the
91st annual lighting of The National Christmas Tree in front of the
White House. The First Lady also reads T’was
the Night before Christmas to crowd of festive listeners to enforce this
year’s “Gather Around” theme.
Emily, this is a great idea for a post. I did not know any of this before reading, so I am grateful that you have taught me something. Please, in all future writing, be sure to cite the source of your information. That will be an important part of our second semester learning. Cite your sources.
ReplyDeleteTypically, your writing is very precise and clear. Oddly, there are some technical issues with your writing in this post. Let me point some of them out. First, the last sentence of your first paragraph is not actually a sentence; it is just a fragment. Second, your verb tenses are inconsistent. You write that volunteers "decorate" but chefs "used". Both of these action occurred at the same time, presumably during preparations. Therefore, these two verbs should be in the same tense. All of your tenses do not have to be the same. You just have to be consistent when talking about events from similar time periods. Finally, be sure to use commas when you need them. In your sentence about the Douglas Fir, "the official White House Christmas tree," is an appositive phrase, and it should be set off with commas. You need a comma after tree, otherwise it is confusing to read. At least it confused me. These are very minor errors, but they do ever so slightly detract from the quality of an otherwise interesting post.