Lower Cross Hall in the White House is decorated with “snowball” arches created from more than 6,000 ornaments and snowmen lining the corridor.
When First Lady Michelle Obama recently unveiled the White House Christmas décor, she made a point to first single out the “chefs, florists, electricians and carpenters” who made the elaborate décor set-ups possible.
The Washington Post noted the First Lady was emotional in hosting the event, her final Christmas unveiling.
“So before I get choked up,” she said, after thanking the volunteers and staff. “Let me officially kick off our final White House holiday décor season.”
This year’s decorations have the theme “The Gift of the Holidays.” The décor included a 150-pound gingerbread White House, Lego sculptures, larger-than-life-size replicas of presidential dogs Bo and Sunny made of more than 25,000 yarn pom-poms, and “70,000 shimmering ornaments, fragrant evergreen boughs, miles of bright-red ribbon and vases bursting with fresh yellow tulips,” according to The Chicago Tribune. (Ninety percent of the decorating materials were reused.)
In addition to paid staff, including White House chief floral designer, Hedieh Ghaffarian, 92 volunteers from 33 states helped create the White House’s Christmas look.
“I’m blessed and honored,” Mary Mazzeffi, a floral designer from Illinois, told the Tribune. This was her second year volunteering to help with setup. She told the newspaper she was back for a second time because “I’m a worker bee, and I just have the passion for it.”
