Jill Biden unveils White House holiday decor for 2023 See photos of the Christmas trees, ornaments and more.

Table Of Content

• Grand Foyer and Cross Hall – Gift of Faith and Community
• Jill Biden Unveils White House Holiday Decorations: 'Magic, Wonder, and Joy'
• Best of NBC News
• Red Room – Gift of the Performing Arts
• This family's game board is a treasured Hannukah relic
• NATO chief Stoltenberg urges speedy military aid for Ukraine
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"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. The library is decorated with stacks of books, as well as birds and butterflies created out of recycled newspaper; it represents the gift of learning. The Vermeil Room is decorated with colorful paint swatches and paintbrushes and represents the gift of the visual arts.

Grand Foyer and Cross Hall – Gift of Faith and Community

White House carpenters built the menorah out of wood that was saved from a Truman-era renovation and sterling silver candle cups. To schedule a tour of the White House to see the decorations, you can email your House representative.

Jill Biden Unveils White House Holiday Decorations: 'Magic, Wonder, and Joy'

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. Once Thomas Jefferson’s dining room, the Green Room houses Henry Ossawa Tanner’s Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City, using actual sand to illustrate the windswept beaches of our coasts.

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Peoples is a former elementary school teacher who has written and illustrated a series of picture books to support children of color, including those who have experienced race-based trauma. As part of Joining Forces, her White House initiative to support military families, Jill Biden was joined by National Guard leaders from across the country, as well as National Guard families. A copy of the Declaration of Independence is on display in the library, while the always-show-stopping 300-pound (136 kilogram) gingerbread White House this year includes a sugar cookie replica of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, where the documents were signed. Recipes contributed by the small army of volunteer decorators spruce up the China Room’s mantel. Handwritten ones — for apple crisp and pizzelle, an Italian cookie — are family recipes shared by the first lady. The ornaments on the Gold Star Christmas tree are engraved with the names of military servicemen who have died.

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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 dining room is also the customary stage for the gingerbread White House, made using 40 sheets each of sugar cookie dough and gingerbread dough, 90 pounds of pastillage, a cake decorating paste, 30 pounds of chocolate and 50 pounds of royal icing. The State Dining Room has been transformed into Santa's workshop, with elves' workbenches, stools and ladders circling the Christmas trees and tools and gifts-in-progress rounding out the décor. She thanked the "hundreds of volunteer decorators and designers" who made this year's display possible.

Jill Biden unveils White House holiday decorations with theme of children's joy - UPI News

Jill Biden unveils White House holiday decorations with theme of children's joy.

Posted: Mon, 27 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

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. WASHINGTON (AP) — Step inside the White House during the holidays by walking beneath the branches of a Christmas tree. See Santa’s sleigh and his eight reindeer suspended above the grand foyer in dramatic fashion.

The evening’s guests included President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, among numerous others. The arrival of the Christmas tree came just hours after President Joe Biden pardoned two turkeys, named Liberty and Bell, in another time-honored White House tradition. First lady Jill Biden, 72, invited military-connected families to join her Monday afternoon as she received the centerpiece decoration, a longstanding tradition that kicks off several weeks of festivities at the People's House. After delivering a holiday message, Dr. Biden invited the children of National Guard families to a special performance by the cast of the North American tour of Disney’s stage musical, Frozen.

NATO chief Stoltenberg urges speedy military aid for Ukraine

It has produced its own TikTok content, but also relied on everyday users who interact with the president. That includes a post from a family that ate fries and other fixings from the Cook Out fast food chain when Biden recently visited Raleigh, North Carolina, as well as Coleman’s putting video. “We would be silly to write off any place where people are getting information about the president,” said Rob Flaherty, who ran the White House’s Office of Digital Strategy and now is deputy manager of Biden’s reelection campaign. We’re making sure that when the government funds research, that work includes women from the beginning. And when we make discoveries, those ideas get to the women and families waiting for answers. He launched the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research to fundamentally transform how our country approaches and funds women’s health research.

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More than 150 volunteers, including two of the first lady’s sisters, helped decorate the White House during the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Some 50,000 visitors are expected to pass through the White House for the holidays, including tourists and guests invited to nearly a month’s worth of receptions. Among them will be French President Emmanuel Macron, who will meet with President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday and be honored at a state dinner, the first of the Biden administration. Aides say she was inspired by people she met while traveling around the country and by the nation’s founding documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

The East Room celebrates the Gift of Gratitude, symbolized by small acts of kindness and handwritten notes, full of grateful reflection. Whether it is penning a thank you card, sending a sweet text with a heart emoji, or dropping off muffins on a neighbor’s front porch, these expressions of gratitude heal our hearts and bring us together. Children of these and other military families were also to be treated to a performance by the cast of the North American tour of the Disney musical "Frozen." The White House estimates it will welcome roughly 100,000 visitors throughout the holiday season.

In the White House's many rooms, visitors will find floating sweet treats, Santa Claus riding his sleigh and the 2023 White House gingerbread house, she said. It takes over 100 dedicated volunteers working a full week to decorate the inside and outside of the White House. Approximately 6,000 feet of ribbon, over 300 candles, and over 10,000 ornaments were used this year to decorate the White House. The China Room, which was formalized by First Lady Edith Wilson in 1917, houses tableware used by past presidential families.

Gone are the icy, sparkling boughs and the imagery of a woman isolated in a winter wonderland (or a horror story, depending on your point of view). GPB is committed to bringing you comprehensive news coverage from Georgia, across the country and around the world. Some people compared Biden and Trump's videos – while Biden's showcased the boldly decorated White House with elaborately dressed dancers performing their interpretation of "The Nutcracker," Trump's had a more serene vibe, with softer lighting and music. Others compared Jill Biden’s choices to Melania Trump’s spooky red Christmas trees from 2018. As you celebrate this holiday season, join us in taking a few moments to pause and reflect on these intangible Gifts from the Heart and the many blessings bestowed upon us all. The State Dining Room celebrates the cherished Gift of Family—those we are born into, those we choose, and those we create.

In just one week, over 100 volunteers from the local area decorated the outside and inside of the White House with 41 Christmas trees, 6,000 feet of ribbon and over 78,750 holiday lights. A Christmas tree stands in the Red Room during a press preview of White House holiday decorations on Nov. 29. The 2023 White House Holiday Display is designed to capture the pure, unfiltered delight and imagination of childhood, to encourage visitors to reflect on this time of year with hearts open to the magic, wonder, and joy of the season. As always, one of the highlights of the decor is in the Blue Room, where the official White House Christmas Tree stands on display. This year’s tree is an 18½ foot Fraser Fir that stands floor to ceiling, and requires the annual removal of the Blue Room’s chandelier in order to accommodate its full height. Dr. Biden unveiled the decorations at a Monday event, announcing the theme of "Magic, Wonder, and Joy," and thanking the more than 300 volunteers who helped decorate the White House for the season.

There have been scores of other such events, including an influencer party at the White House last Christmas and a State of the Union watch party in March. During Biden’s recent, $26 million campaign fundraiser at New York’s Radio City Music Hall with former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, there was an influencer happy hour and an after-party where attendees interacted with Biden. Opponents of TikTok say its ownership by Chinese company ByteDance gives Beijing a dangerous amount of influence over what narratives Americans see as well as potential access to U.S. user data. Chinese national-security laws allow the ruling Communist Party wide latitude over private business, though the U.S. has not made public evidence that the Chinese government has manipulated the app or forced ByteDance to do its bidding.

In her prepared remarks, the first lady said she knows that magic, wonder and joy can be hard to find, especially as the days grow shorter, the weather turns colder "and our hearts grow heavy in the face of a tumultuous world." It has eight detailed replicas of community buildings to honor front-line workers, including a hospital, police station and fire station. About one-third of adults under 30 approve of how he’s handling his job as president, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in March — a sharp drop from the roughly two-thirds approved when he first entered office. The White House doesn’t have an official TikTok account and Biden banned the app on most government devices in December 2022.