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The first lady has overseen the holiday decorations at the White House since 1961, when Jacqueline Kennedy hung ballet-themed “Nutcracker” themed toy, bird and angel ornaments on a Christmas tree in the blue room. This year was no different.
In one 1 minute video Posted on Twitter Monday, Melania Trump unveiled this year’s theme, “America the Beautiful,” which she translated as green trees decorated with red, gold and silver ornaments and white lights, a style so traditional it it could adorn the cover of Martha Stewart Alive. The colonnade is this year features simple black urns containing plumes of foliage and greenery from each state and territory.
The bold aesthetic choices that have drawn so many flack and sneaky memes in the past of Christmas are conspicuously absent. There are no blood red trees, like there were in 2018, which various media have called “scary” and “deeply haunted”. There is nothing quite like the icy, lighted branches of 2017 that transformed the Eastern Colonnade into what some equated to a barren, dystopian landscape.
This year, a small train – the “White House Express” – encircles a crown placed on a central table. The artful ornaments are named after children from Maryland, Michigan, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Other decorations celebrate “pioneers of gender equality,” as the office of the first lady, including artist Georgia O’Keeffe, has put it.
It’s Ms Trump’s last Christmas in the White House as First Lady, and if her tree cuts look flawless by design, maybe that’s the point. She received a lump of coal early in her stockpile in September, when her former advisor Stephanie Winston Wolkoff published a revealing memoir, “Melania and Me.”
Among the newsworthy comments Ms. Trump made in the book – and in conversations secretly recorded by Ms. Winston Wolkoff – was her complaint about the vacation drudgery and her negative media coverage of her predecessor, Michelle Obama.
Ms Trump has been heard on tapes delivering a rude speech about “Christmas stuff” and decorations. “But I need to do it, right?” she added.
Ms Trump has also been tasked with spreading joy at a time when daily deaths from Covid-19 approach unheard of figures since the spring and many Americans are canceling vacation plans for fear of spreading the virus. Her decorations, including a snow-capped mini-hospital and adornments of a garbage truck, a nurse’s hat and a lab coat, nod to the pandemic and essential workers.
The first reviews of the decorations were charitable.
CNN highlighted a tree in the Vermeil Room with ornaments depicting a portrait of President John F. Kennedy and sailboats, and another tree in the library celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote , noting: “Important thought and detail went into the Americana decorations.
The Independent wrote: “Ms. Trump and an army of volunteers have put together a warmer, less daring display that takes place throughout the Executive Mansion.
Even media that have harshly criticized Ms. Trump’s view of the vacation have not been able to refuel this year. Consider this lukewarm headline from Mashable: “Melania Trump Unveils Her Latest White House Christmas Decorations And They Are Going Alright.”
The website grudgingly paid homage to Ms Trump and seemed almost disappointed that it did not continue the recent holiday tradition, undertaken by much of the media, of muddying the White House’s Christmas design choices. “Playing it safe is probably a good strategy this year,” the article says. “This theme is harder to remember, that’s for sure.”
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