Jill Biden has officially accepted the White House Christmas Tree for this year.
Christmas is back in The White House!
On Monday, first lady Jill Biden kicked off the festivities as she formally accepted the official 2021 White House Christmas tree.
The 18-and-a-half-foot Fraser fir tree was brought up to the north portico of the executive mansion in a carriage drawn by Clydesdale horses, and presented by Rusty and Beau Estes, from Peak Farms of Jefferson, North Carolina.
They are the National Christmas Tree Association’s grand champion growers and it’s their third time providing a tree for the White House. They previously presented trees to Laura Bush in 2008 and Michelle Obama in 2021.
“It’s beautiful—it’s magnificent, actually,” Jill told reporters referring to the tree.
Tradition dictates that the first lady inspects the tree and Jill did, before snapping off a sprig and handing it to her grandson Beau, who was nearby, delivering it with a kiss.
During the event, Hunter Biden was holding his youngest son, Beau, his wife Melissa Cohen at his side which took place on the North Lawn at the White House.
The day was cold and sunny but the mood festive as the Marine Corps Band played carols and about 50 White House staffers gathered outside to watch the tree’s arrival. It will be Biden’s first holiday season at the White House as president and first lady.
However, former First Lady Melania Trump’s preferred a monochromatic look, all white, and spindly trees. Instead of the decorations feeling warm and inviting, they felt cold and stark.
Moreover, the holidays were reportedly not Melania’s favorite time of the year.
In 2018, she opted for all-red trees that were dubbed “blood trees” and became memes all over the internet.
According to the leaked audio released by her former BFF Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, Melania vented: “I’m working… my [redacted] off on the Christmas stuff, that you know, who gives a [redacted] about the Christmas stuff and decorations? But I need to do it, right? Correct? Give me a [redacted] break!”
For her fourth and final Christmas in the White House, Melania did choose to play it safe with a traditional, patriotic theme of “America the Beautiful” with references to faith, love, military families, and first responders at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, there was even a cameo by JFK.
In her first two years decorating the executive mansion, her efforts attracted a great deal of scorn and ridicule for being cold and bleak.
On Twitter, people greeted the arrival of this year’s Christmas tree with great expectation for how Jill’s choices might contrast with the Trump years.
Mike Sington, a former executive at NBC, tweeted: “After four years, thanks to First Lady Jill Biden, a normal, happy Christmas returns to the White House.point 275 |
It’s the end of Melania Trump’s dark, dystopian Christmases of “I’m working my [redacted] off on Christmas stuff.point 104 | Who gives a [redacted] about Christmas?”point 141 | 1
“Grateful Melania Trump’s Christmas horror show is gone,” a second one commented.
A third user tweeted: “I am so looking forward to some normal Christmas decorations at the White House this year, instead of the twisted nightmare of the last four years.”
While another wrote: “Merry Christmas, such a wonderful start to the season! Thank you for bringing back a normal American Christmas to the White House, it was missed for a few years!”
Someone joked: “Dr. Jill Biden officially ends Melania’s four-year war on Christmas.”
As per the tradition, the tree will be displayed in the Blue Room of the White House, which has its chandelier removed to accommodate the tree and it will be decorated with a theme that will be revealed after Thanksgiving.
The tradition of the White House Christmas tree dates back to 1889 and the tradition of the first lady picking a theme for the Blue Room tree started with Jacqueline Kennedy in 1961.