White House unveils Christmas decorations WITHOUT stockings for grandchildren after Biden acknowledged Hunter’s daughter: Holiday display includes Commander, a gingerbread 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and lots of candy
- The White House holiday theme for 2023 is Magic, Wonder, and Joy
- Decorations meant to inspire the same wonder kids have around the holidays
- White House to host about 24 parties throughout the season
This year’s White House Christmas decorations were inspired by a child’s wonder of the holidays but were missing is one crucial part: the stockings by the fireplace.
For the past two years Joe and Jill Biden hung six stockings on the fireplace mantel in the State Dining Room – one for each of their grandchildren except for five-year-old Navy, Hunter Biden’s out-of-wedlock daughter with Lunden Roberts.
This year’s mantel place is decorated with ribbons, and ornaments even after the Bidens, in a stunning turnaround in July, finally acknowledged their seventh grandchild after Hunter finished another round of child support hearings in Arkansas.
There are no mention of any of the Biden grandchildren. Instead there are tributes to White House pets: Willow and Commander, the German Shepherd banished from the White House after biting Secret Service agents. Along with candy, toy soldiers, ballerinas, and tributes to military families.
The fireplace in the White House State Dining Room did not have stockings like it did in the past
Candy-themed ornaments hang in the entry way
Decorated statues of the First Family’s pets, Commander the dog and Willow the cat, are displayed in the East Wing
Guests walk into the White House under greenery, ornaments and lights
The Gingerbread White House
White House staff also utilized overhead spaces and oversized decor to bring out the child in everyone.
It starts at the entry way, where guests walk in under the branches of a Christmas Tree with lights, ornaments and candy canes tucked in the branches above.
And it continues through the house to the state floor, where Santa and his eight reindeer are hanging from the ceiling in the entry way.
‘It’s this childlike marvel and awe that inspired this year’s holiday theme: the ‘Magic, Wonder, and Joy,’ of the season,’ Jill Biden will say later Monday, according to an advance copy of her remarks released by the East Wing.
The Bidens saw the decorations on Sunday night after they returned from their annual Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket with six of their seven grandchildren.
In the past, the Bidens have always included their six other grandchildren – Hunter’s three daughters Naomi, Finnegan and Maisy with his first wife Kathleen and his son Beau with his current wife Melissa Cohen and the late Beau Biden’s children Natalie and Little Hunter – in their holiday decor.
Navy Roberts was always notably missing.
Santa and his sleigh fly through the Entrance Hall on the State Floor
The official White House Christmas Tree sits in the Blue Room
A Christmas Tree sits atop the entry way into the White House
The Cross Hall of the White House
The East Room features an advent calendar
The first couple are close to their family and endured months of questions about why they had never acknowledged Navy, whose mother filed a paternity lawsuit against Hunter in 2019.
In July the Bidens did recognize her. ‘Jill and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy,’ President Biden said in a statement at the time.
Five-year-old Navy Roberts
It’s unclear if the Bidens have met Navy in person but her mother, Lunden Roberts, told DailyMail.com earlier this month: ‘Navy Joan is so proud of Hunter, not because he’s a Biden, but because he is her dad.’
And children were on First Lady Jill Biden’s mind when she revealed this year’s annual holiday decorations, which include 98 Christmas Trees, 14,975 feet of ribbon, and 22,100 bells.
There is also a tribute to military families and, in honor of its 200th anniversary, a display of various copies of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ from throughout the years.
‘Each room on display is designed to capture the pure, unfiltered delight and imagination of our childhoods, to see this time of year through the wondrous, sparkling eyes of children,’ Jill Biden will say.
The White House expects to welcome approximately 100,000 visitors during the holiday season, the East Wing said.
It took 300 volunteers six days to decorate – three days in warehouses assembling decor and then Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the White House putting it all into place.
The White House will hold about 24 holiday receptions with the first one on Monday. The last one is December 22nd. The annual Congressional Ball is Monday, Dec. 4. Other invited guests will include supporters, donors, staff and members of the media.
As the guests and visitors make their way through the ground floor and state rooms above, they’ll see a variety of decorations tied to the theme.
The aw and wonder start in the entry way, where guests walk beneath overhanging lights, cookies, lollipops and candy canes.
The White House library was transformed into a children’s bedroom, including a bed with books stacked around it. The Vermeil Room was transformed into a theater with dancing nutcrackers.
The China Room was made into a kitchen with sweet treats baking.
White House Holiday Decorations By The Numbers
• Approximately 14,975 feet of ribbon, over 350 candles, over 33,892 ornaments, and over 22,100 bells were used to decorate the White House
• There are 98 Christmas trees throughout the White House complex
• The Gingerbread White House creation includes 40 sheets of sugar cookie dough, 40 sheets of gingerbread dough, 90 pounds of pastillage, 30 pounds of chocolate, and 50 pounds of royal icing
• Over 142,425 holiday lights decorate the trees, garlands, wreaths, and displays in the White House
• Seventy-two classic wreaths adorn the north and south facades of the White House
• It takes over 300 dedicated volunteers from across the country working a full week to decorate the inside and outside of the White House
The East Room contains Advent calendars counting down the days to Christmas and, behind each number, is a special surprise that will be revealed as the holiday season continues.
The Blue Room contains the official White House Christmas Tree – an 18½ foot Fraser Fir from Fleetwood, North Carolina.
This year’s tree is decorated with scenes, landscapes, and neighborhoods from all across the country, with names of every state, territory, and the District of Columbia on display.
A replica of a vintage passenger train, on loan from the Train Collectors Association, runs around the tree’s base.
The Red Room pays tribute to Jill Biden’s support for military families and her Joining Forces Initiative. The ornaments are created out of the handprints and painted family portraits of military-connected children.
The first lady kept the tradition – going back to 1975 – of having fresh cranberries as part of the decor but, this year, the berries are woven through handmade popcorn garland.
The State Dining Room was transformed into Santa’s workshop with elves’ workbenches, stools, and ladders around the Christmas Trees.
Life-sized nutcrackers and ballerinas abound around the room.
It also hold the Gingerbread White House. This year’s version includes a tribute to Twas the Night Before Christmas with a sugar cookie replica of the famous book.
The columns on the colonnade was decorated with red peppermint stripes and red peppermint Christmas candy makes up the wreaths on the windows.
The traditional – and recognizable – holiday candy plays a large part in the decor. The candy was used to make a large wreath in the entry way near the Gold Star tree honoring military families.
And bowls of it are placed around the White House.
A portrait of former first lady Rosalynn Carter is draped in black bunting among the holiday decorations at the White House
Hunter Biden with wife Melissa Cohen and son Baby Beau in Nantucket this past week for the Biden family’s annual Thanksgiving break
For the past two years, the Bidens have hangs up stockings in the White House for six of their seven grandchildren named – but not Navy
Jill Biden will make it clear that childlike wonder is her goal for visitors when they see the White House.
‘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 will say.
‘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.’
‘Because children have something to teach us, if we’re wise enough to listen. How to remain present, even as a busy world beckons. How to open ourselves up to love and wonder. How to marvel at every moment, no matter how ordinary.’
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