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- Jill Biden releases White House Christmas video featuring tap dancers performing "The Nutcracker"
- The Official 2023 White House Christmas Ornament
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- First lady Jill Biden unveils 2023 White House holiday decor
- About Sky News
- Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by First Lady Jill Biden at a Holiday Celebration with Military Families
Whether sewing a costume for the Christmas pageant, stringing popcorn for the tree, or fashioning homemade ornaments, the holidays are a time for creativity and imagination. The decorations, previewed on Nov. 27 in Washington, D.C., feature letters to Joe Biden and Santa Claus, reindeer figurines, candy-themed-ornaments and more. Inspired by the 200th anniversary of the publication of ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, this year’s gingerbread White House features a recreation of this storied tale. The display includes a sugar cookie replica of the famous book, as well as Santa’s sleigh flying above the White House grounds. This magical poem has delighted children for 200 years, with families across the world gathering together for generations to recite the lyrical lines by memory. "In this season of reflection and goodwill, we hope you will embrace your inner child and delight in simply being present with those you love," President Biden and the first lady wrote in a welcome letter in the commemorative 2023 White House Holiday Guide.
Jill Biden releases White House Christmas video featuring tap dancers performing "The Nutcracker"
"I don't know how you feel, but I feel it's just breathtaking," the first lady said to applause and cheers during an event unveiling the White House's holiday decorations. "The holidays offer a time for reflection and a break from our hurried lives, a season to be fully present with our friends and our families." The Library of Congress provided samples of editions of the book from the past 200 years that are on display in protective cases along the ground floor corridor. The traditional gingerbread White House includes a large sugar cookie replica of the book opened to a page that says “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.” Santa’s sleigh and reindeer also fly above the cookie White House.
The Official 2023 White House Christmas Ornament
Ninety-eight Christmas trees, nearly 34,000 ornaments, over 22,000 bells and more than 350 candles were used in the décor, according to the White House. Nearly 142,500 lights illuminate trees, garlands, wreaths and other displays, and nearly 15,000 feet (4,600 meters) of ribbon are part of it all. The whimsical set of oversized decorations is meant to inspire the feelings of awe and wonder that put children on joyful edge during the holidays, White House aides said. Santa Claus in his sleigh and a team of reindeer fly through the columns of the Entrance Hall of the White House. The ornaments on the Gold Star Christmas tree are engraved with the names of military servicemen who have died.
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The president and first lady take part in many holiday traditions at the White House, including a tree lighting, the decoration reveal and a Christmas address that occurs near the holiday. This year's decor also features several nods to the 1823 poem and book "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," now celebrating its 200th year. In addition to vintage editions on display along the ground floor corridor, the book will be featured in sugar-cookie form alongside the traditional gingerbread White House. The White House Historical Association’s Official 2023 White House Christmas Ornament is a festive holiday wreath adorned with decorations inspired by the handcrafted Christmas ornaments used in the White House during the Gerald R. Ford Jr., administration. Small and delicate depictions of dolls, cherubs, doves, stars, flowers, gingerbread men, candles, and pentagon balls decorate the front of the ornament while the back features emblems related to the life and presidency of Gerald R. Ford.
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Hundreds of Volunteers Get White House Ready for Christmas - Voice of America - VOA News
Hundreds of Volunteers Get White House Ready for Christmas.
Posted: Thu, 21 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
As the largest room in the White House, the East Room has hosted public receptions, ceremonies, bill signings, and other memorable occasions. It also includes Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George Washington, which First Lady Dolley Madison helped save in 1814 when the White House was about to be set aflame during the War of 1812. The joyful anticipation of the holidays is front and center in the East Room, with Advent calendars counting down the days to Christmas. The decor of the Vermeil Room (French for gilded silver) represents the joy of music and performance during the holidays. More than 300 designers and decorators volunteered to spend last week transforming the executive mansion.
Two people have been injured after Russian strikes in the cities of Kupiansk and Vovchansk, local authorities have said. We can now bring you more from Oleksandr Syrskyi, the chief of Ukraine's armed forces, about the situation on the ground. Earlier we reported that a top Ukrainian general said troops had fallen back from three villages in the east of the country. The only ornament of its kind, the Official White House Christmas Ornament is produced by the White House Historical Association, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, and made in America by a veteran-founded business. Each ornament helps fund the work of the Association’s historians, researchers, and educators to open the doors to the rich history of the “people’s house” for millions of Americans. "Thank you for bringing Jazz and Tap dance to the Whitehouse this Holiday season! It's a scary world right now, but a respite of two truly American art-forms invented in this country is a breath of fresh air," another commented.
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The first lady invited National Guard families to be the first members of the public to take in the sights. Before the unveiling of the decor, Biden hosted a round table discussion with National Guard families, her office said. Seventy-two wreaths sporting red ribbons adorn the north and south exteriors of the White House. The official White House Christmas tree, an 18.5-foot-tall Fraser fir, takes its usual place in the Blue Room, where the chandelier has to be taken down to accommodate its height.
National Guard families, who were joining the first lady as part of Joining Forces, her White House initiative to show appreciation for military families, were among the first members of the public to see the decorations. Ninety-eight Christmas trees, more than 142,000 twinkling lights and nearly 34,000 ornaments deck the halls of the White House in ways that first lady Jill Biden hopes will inspire visitors to embrace their inner child and experience the "magic, wonder and joy" of the season. The first Christmas tree featured inside the White House is adorned with wooden Gold Star ornaments that are engraved with the names of fallen service members. The Gold Star tree honors the heroic men and women of our Nation’s military who have laid down their lives for our country, those who are Missing in Action, and the families who carry on their legacies.
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"But it's in these times, when we are searching for hope and healing, that we need those points of light the most, that we need each other the most," she said. "It's in these times that I hope you remember, if even just for a moment or a season, how you saw the world as a child." The traditional gingerbread White House recreates the classic story by featuring a sugar cookie replica of the book along with Santa's sleigh flying above the grounds.
President Ford was an eagle scout and an athlete who played on the University of Michigan’s football team. Later the USS Gerald R. Ford, the first-in-class aircraft carrier, was commissioned to honor the thirty-eighth president as the flagship of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group. These moments are the inspiration for the design of the Official 2023 White House Christmas Ornament. The White House released a fact sheet and was allowing the news media to see all the trees, lights and ornaments before the first lady's event.
A winter wonderland has arrived at the White House, as first lady Jill Biden unveiled this year's decorative theme for the Christmas season on Monday. During the holidays, the Cross Hall features the official White House Menorah, created in 2021 by the White House Executive Residence Carpentry Shop. The menorah was constructed using wood that was removed more than seventy years ago during the Truman-era renovation of the White House. Arranged in the windows are colorful sprays of crystal and prisms, mixed with shimmering fabric and embroidered starbursts to reflect light.
"The Blue Room behind me features the official White House Christmas tree, a stunning creation covered in holiday cheer from across the country," Biden told the crowd. "A vintage passenger train weaves around the tree's base. I know the kids are just going to love it when they visit." "Each room is designed to capture this pure, unfiltered delight and imagination -- to see this season, this time of year through the wondrous, sparkling eyes of children," she said. It's the holiday season at the White House and thousands of feet of ribbon, ornaments and bells are helping mark the occasion. The library honors the tradition of bedtime stories with dangling golden moons and shimmering stars; the China Room has been turned into a sweet shop featuring baked goodies, and the Vermeil Room celebrates music with a display of rotating big Marine Band figurines with trumpets.
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