maintain maximum freshness and fireproofing in the. what we have seen is the end result of man's ingenuity in improving on a natural product. he has established a significant new industry by creating a more beautiful product. the cultured christmas

now our guest tonight is a noted white house social expert and event planner and a well-known historian. her book that she'll be speaking on tonight. christmas at the white house right here was the first major book to document the christmas traditions of the first families. and she takes special note of mrs. nixon's many fun and festive holiday traditions that continue to this day. she's been featured on fox news and on media outlets around the country. she was actively involved in the texas historical records advisory board and southern methodist university, now home to the george w bush presidential library. and we are very pleased to have her with us tonight. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome jennifer pickens.

well, thank you for having me. it's such an honor to be here at this wonderful presidential library. and i'm just so glad to be here today. so, christmas at the white house and a lot of people have asked why would one write a book on christmas at the white house? and i have to say, it's pretty personal. i feel very lucky. and i was a pretty spoiled little girl at christmas time. and the fact that my mom would put up nine christmas trees every year. and so in 2004, i was lucky enough to be a guest at the white house. and at a holiday party. and i was just absolutely blown away by how beautiful, obviously the white house is, but especially at christmas time. and so the next morning, i went to go buy a book on the subject and there wasn't one. and the white house is such a great way to study american history. the home is roughly as old as our nation. and so it really is a great metaphor for our country and the

things that are going at the on it during the time. so when you think about christmas in america at the early beginning of our republic, it was very much a family event. it was celebrated with friends and family. not all the big decorations we see today in so roughly at the end of the 1800s, we start having the first christmas trees. and so it makes sense that president harrison was the first to have a christmas tree at the white house. but i decided to start the book with first lady jacqueline kennedy. mrs. kennedy was the first first lady to elect to put a tree up in the blue room. and we think about mrs. kennedy. we often think about her children. and caroline loved the nutcracker or ballet. so it makes sense that her first tree in 1961 was celebrating the nutcracker suite. now, the reason, really, she came up with the theme was just to celebrate her children. it didn't make it. it wasn't a big deal in the papers. it wasn't a big deal in the media that they had this

christmas tree that had a theme. but it was something that caught on. and every single first lady has done since. what was the big deal during the kennedy administration? there was that wonderful picture of caroline the first time she sees the tree. what we did, the media did pick up on was that mrs. kendy elected to have a wonderful museum style creche or nativity during her tenure at the white house. this was a crash that you can see what made it so spectacle killer for the media was its both its museum quality that it was a wonderful historic crash but also its place meant she put it in the east room between the portraits of george and martha washington and in the media really did go wild about it and there have been crashes before. we know the roosevelts had some as well as many other first families, but this is the one that was really prominently displayed for the first time. as we know. and here you can see and i'm sorry, a close up of the crash as it is on display now in buffalo, new york.

and as we know, her time was cut short during the white house and the johnsons entered following a three day period of mourning at the white house. and it was completely draped in black. mrs. johnson, did go ahead and put up christmas trees that first year, and she also did put up the crash that mrs. and kennedy had put on loan at the white house the previous two years. she decided to put that out on display again. and mrs. johnson did a lot during her time as first lady celebrating christmas. really? there's a lot to be thankful for. and mrs. johnson, of many of the christmas tree traditions, we haay. and first was this wonderful, splar blue room tree that we've been talking about. the mrs. kennedy was the first one that put up in the be room. mrs. johnson. befo m. johnson's tenure, really? christmas trees on display at the white house would be from a affer's home. they might just be somewhere nearby and a staffer might donate one out of their yard, which is quite common. but mrs. johnson decided they

really needed to have a system to find these beautiful trees. so the national christmas tree growers association and mrs. johnson together started having a contest that there'd be a statewide contest, and the winner from each state would enter into a national contest. but this isn't any tree that enters the white house for the blue room. so when all of us are kind of getting stressed out about putting up our christmas decorations, we need to think about the blue room tree. it is 18 and a half feet tall at a minim. it has to be perfectly straight and symmetrical. itas to be full. buitan't be too full because it has to fit through the front doors of the white house and it has to be stately in both rich and color. it takes an estimate l's say we didn't have another an estimated 4500 to 8000 lights for that one singular tree. it's amazing. it takes roughly 12 to 20 years to grow and so, as you can see, it was a big fanfare ceremony when the tree when the winner comes to the white house and

presents their tree. second, mrs. johnson, after starting this wonderful selection process for a christmas tree, she really did also secure a permanent creche or nativity to always be on display. she loved the one that d en on loan for the past couple of years to the white house. but it was a loan. and so she, with the help of jane angle heartedane englehart a her foundation secured this beautiful creche and a fun little side note here in this photograph next to mrs. englehardt, the lady with the bret hair is aet. not too long after this photograph was taken, she married oscar de la renta. so it has been an oscar. de la renta has designed many gowns for first family. so this couple has had quite the impact on the whiteouse. and it's a beautiful crash. this is how itas displayed. the first several years. but you couldee it was a very cumbersome display. it took up a lot of room in the east rm that dplayed at the same place mrs. kennedy had selected. and but every time there was a big function during the holidays at the white house, the entire

display had to come down because it was so cumbersome. so mrs. ford went to mrs. englehardt and asked for some more funds to create a new display that they could easily put in that race between the two portraits. sadly, mrs. ford's did not get but mrs. carter did continue it and said during her first yea at christmas, you can see this is the new way the crest was displayed. several years later. secretary clinton, as first lady, noted that the crest are to appear a little out of date and she really wanted to have each piece individually restored. so they went. and this is how you can see it today. and it is just spectacular. there's several things that make it very unique. is especially the fact that you can see there on horses as opposed to camels. that really do p the white house crash as a unique piece as opposed to many others. and mrs. nixon, who i know you all are all such big fans of

here. and one of my favorite things studying for her during the research for this book and studying about it was the wonderful scene from historic dolley madison save george washington. but patricia nixon's save dolley madison and what there were referring to and the fact that patricia nixon did so much for the white house, she secured over 600 artifacts during her time and the white house went from being about one third antiques and historically furnished. by the time the nixons left, it was two thirds, and there no greater. now an administration has had a greater impact on the white house than the nixon's. and really, today's white house could be a set for a nixon movie. and she not only loved the house, buthe loved christmas. in 1969, a times reporter observed, the presidential couples have gone, quite gone at the christmas time, merry making with quite the gusto of richard and pat nixon for the holidays. they have people, the place with choirs, bob hope that apollo 12

astronauts the more than 6000 other american, is renowned and known to fuel those guests. the kitchens turned out 25, 25,000 cookies, 1130 gallons of fruit punch, an identical quantity of eggnog. nobody in washington can remember a more festive white house christmas. and she really created more traditions that you can see today than most first ladies. here's a great photo of them out in the snow. and here you can see the apollo 12 astronauts. but thi beautiful tree you can see out in the east foyer, mrs. nixon did pull the christmas treeut of the blue room,ust one year during her tenure at the white house. she wanted it to when people were driving home on 1600 pennsylvania avenue, could see it through the windows. but the first thing she did that was so great, she wanted to really represent the entire country while she was there. so she had, with the help of saks fifth avenue at these beautiful velvet balls created representing each state. you could see they'd have the state flowers and gemstones and other things represented and

representing all of our states and territories. and these are one the only ornaments to ever remain at the white house and remain on the tree for every administration. after patricia nixon's all the way through the clinton administration in their final year and due to the wear of the ornaments now they're rarely put out. however, the first ladies have carried on her tradition for the most part, by always representing the entire country. do you have the display of this wonderful gingerbrea house? and the media did not may realize what a big deal it was going to become to have a gingerbread house. but mrs. nixon had, with the help of hands, were offered this wonderful gingerbrd house put on display in the state dining room. it became so popular it required a marine gua to be posd order to continue leaving it out on display because little hand were quick to take off pieces. and it really is probably one the most anticipated events during theolays today. and next would be her poinsetti

trees. and she is famous for creating these wonderful trays full of points that is primarily in d. the media went wild with these about every magazine in the country was trying to figure out how she displayed them. and you can see here an example of how they would be telling to make one at home. and another thing that you'll still see at the white house, if you're to get a day, are these nderful poinsettia trees and another thing that we don'have really have a photograph of. llecting prior administré tions christmas if you wero on tour of white house today, when you enter through the east visitors entrance, the first colonnade, dowthe eire wall. on the right hand side are shadow boxes full of prior administrations christmas card that was started by mrs. nixon. they're the same boxes that she created then. and finally, the candlelight tours. mrs. nixon really opened up the home to most a larger number of people than any first lady before her. she star tours, especially for the blind, where they could come

in and touch the fabrics, touch the curtains. she had brochures printed and other languages that people from foreign countries could come through and read about the white house. she had wheelchair ramps installed so that people that with disabilities could get through. and her impact on just opening up to the tours is really just had never happened like that before. and she realized in the evening time it'd be such a great time to open up the doors to the white house. men could come after work during this day. she saw lots of women coming through the day and not as many men. and. she did it by candlelight. they became so popular that during the clinton administration, it was estimated 125,000 people were going through as primarily that last week of december. and people would have to wait in line most up to 3 hours for a candlelight tour. it's just it's a wonderful tradition that is still going on. and today. and then my favorite story from the next administration is this photograph. this is one most requested

photograph. white house photos during the nixon administration. it's that there their three pets in front of the tree. and most of the time the newspapers would say the private residence tray of the nixons. tricia nixon cox wanted me to always remind people that was the dogs tree. they had a nether tree in the private residence. but mrs. nixon loved to celebrate christmas. even with the pets, they had their own stockings and their own christmas tree. and probably if i could go back in time and visit maybe five or ten, favorite christmas is one of them would certainly be during the ford administration. mrs. ford loved american history. she loved taking her children to williamsburg and so her second christmas at the white house, she reached out to colonial williamsburg and had an old fashioned christmas in america. and it was really special. you could see lots of handmade crafts that were created by both employees and volunteers at colonial williamsburg and and it really represented really t, you know, the christmases of the

1800s, that meuthere in williamsburg lent it out. all of their artifacts are here. you can see this wonderful dolls rocking horses, everything on loan from the museum and probably when the neatest things they had ten portraits of children by early american artists, they were on display throughout the blue room. here are some of the portraits close up line the halls of the grand four. you would see wonderful pieces from carousels, figures. it was just really a special christmas at the white house a one of her lasting traditions at the white house is the cranberry tree and this took a wleo figure out what the adniration had. the first one, but it was mrs. ford from 1975, and it's cranberry tree was a favorite for many, many first ladies, especially nancy reagan. and they became so popular they actually made two each season. one went in the refrigerator, set. the first one started to go bad. they could replace it. it takes approximately 200

cranberries to make this cranberry tree, and it continued all the way through the first year of the obama administration, and it was always placed in the red room. and mrs. carter, she as all the first ladies before her, also loved christmas and the president loved helping making the christmas decoration and decisions. not often would i find that presidents were very involved, but president carter was as involved as anybody else in the staff in deciding what the christmas decor would be for her first year. mrs. carter was very involved in mental health as her time as first lady of georgia, as when she went to the white house, her first christmas. she really wanted to celebrate the mentally challenged and show everything that they could do and contribute to sort of following in mrs. nixon's depth of representing the whole country. she reached out to different community organizers with mentally challenged people throughout the country and had them createentsnd have them sent to the white house and then she did a special tour for them to come through.

it was the opening party, which is really special. e had a little bit of a ffert look during her ten years as first lady. e next couple of yeou see, instead of the traditional reds you would see at the white house, you saw lot of pinks and roses and differentolors that were on display. she continued. the gingerbread tradition as every first lady since patricia nixon, and she also continued the poinsettia trays. and again, you can see her final christmas at the white house and very victorian, very pink and very rose. and all these wonderful different dolls were created to be on display at the white house. and her lasting legacy is really the holiday tour guide booklet. if you were again to go on tour today, you'd be given a little bitty, small booklet, sort of just talking about all the artisans that would contribute to the white house and what the decorations would be in each room. she had its original piece. it was just a little piece of

paper folded in half that would list some of the people that would come over there perform or create something for the white house and she sort of started that wonderful tradition that has become a favorite holiday keepsake for everyone that goes on tour. and the reagan years. really, mrs. reagan just took everything at the white house to a whole new level and really just it's amazing. her christmas decorations and effort. when you talk to staff that worked for mrs. reagan, they said every year she would say, i'd like a few more trees and n tell it was aps lately beautiful and breathtaking in there. she especially loved flock trees. she lod have the snow throughout the white house. so you can see and it really did have that element of hollywood to it. and they knew how they wanted it done and they had it executed perfectly. she loved an old ned tradition and christmas so those were typically the decor. reagan, you can't helput think

of the just say no campaign. and i know in today's world where yoresses tending to go in and out of rehab daily, it's not as big of a to do. but really during mrs. reagan's time, drug addiction was a very big deal and a lot of people, it had a lot of social connotations with it. and she really wanted to address that. so she would have her favorite rehabilitation program. seconds and assists come to the white house for about a week before christmas and the building next door. they would help create many of the ornaments she needed and she would spend hours with them hanging them up on the tree. and when you read the letters from people saying how much that meant to them, that after they had recovered from their addiction, that they could still contribute to things like at the white house that really brings tears to your eyes. it was wonderful. the second thing that she started is a tradition at the white house was the white house historical association's ornament is the most successful ornament campaign throughout the world. they have one every year, a fundraiser. and she was the first lady to

elect to put it on the tree, talk about it during her media tours and their most grateful. and she really helped it become what it is today. again, you can see a close up of these beautiful trees. she would trim. she al bught oped the white house to being from dallas, texas. you can't helput put j.r. ewg, larry hagman on that. and she really did want to open uphehite house again, like mrs. nixon did to so many people. and she obviously one of the best ways to dth is through . so she would have a wonderful, huge event with the media. she always had apeal santa cam to get the media's attention to come in and dressed up as santa claus. she even had mr. t one year or so. it really made it spectacular. but she continued the gingerbread house. but in true fashion of mrs. reagan, she wanted it bigger, wanted little more personal. so the ggerbread house starts getting bigger and bigger every year. and if you look really closely, you can see a special path to that gingerbread house. and if you look up in the chimney, you can see the jelly

beans as nod to t reagan's favoriteandy. you can also see a little personalized dog hren the left that so spells out recs for their dog. really personalized it again. ok at this point set of trees. this is when you enter the white house through the east entrance. d she took the decor out of the state rooms into every wing of the white house, 1988, when you were to talk to people in washington, dc, what was your favorite christmas? probably eight out of ten times. they'll bring up 1988 and old fashioned christmas roll on missoni, the white house pastry chef for several decades said, i felt as if i needed to put on a coat the first time i walked through the room, i actually got a chill. it was just like walkinggh a wter park and it really was just absolutely spectacular. you canrs. agan just came home from camp david to the white house and en t decor finished. meal, white house chstmas reminded me of the oldan

movies. it was beautiful and most loved public. the reage add, knew how to succeed. they wanted it done and done right, and they would plan it out and execute it perfectly. and there we see and this is one of mrs. reagan's favorite photographs during the holidays. and what most people don't realize that santa is president reagan. i love some of these images from the bush administration, but i think what i love most about them is you see their grandchildren. so you thi aut president mrs. bush, and you't help think about the large family. they have in here. you can see all the children, gingerbreadookies were made by a friend of president bush's. and if you're ever to be in the oval office having a meeting, he woulalys give you a cookie. and here you can see him reading to the grandchildren at camp david. that is during the volunteers when they came and the

grandchildren one year we're supposed to go to camp david in the weather didn't hang out, so they got to help put up the christmas decorations over the weekend. and again, when those top five christmases if he could go back and visit, i guess we'd start with a storybook christmas. i'm sorry. when you think about barbara bush, she also think about her literacy campaign. and she was the first lady that wanted to really put that theme on the tree itself. 19, she had these wonderfulin storybook characters created that were hung on the branches in the tree skat ys actually a skirt of books and literacyly. it sort of said the christmas created a social message that year, which was wonderful. she, like mrs. reagan, loved the trees. they were throughout the house and she used traditional colors of red. here you see their tree at camp david with blocks blown out. george and barbara at the bottom and here we're going back to what i was referring to when those top five christmases, 1991, anita point christmas when

they were elected as president and first lady their church and saint martin's in houston, texas and president president elect and mrs. bush with a gift. it was a needlepoint crash. it was a 45 piece nativity. it had the traditional nativity figures, but it also had an armadillo, the bishop spaniel named millie, a black sheep named saintly and a wise man wearing a crown made from the cap of a crown royal bottle. this labor intensive gift with mrs. bush pronounced the most beautiful thing you've ever laid your eyes on. and inspired her 1991 christmas. and she went to the saintly stitchers and some other volunteer and asked if they could have cistmas sort of an honor of this wonderful nativity scene. and there washree see a close up of it in the private residence. her first christmas and the result was absolutely spectacular. it took 18 months or 150000 hours to create.

1370 needlepoint ornaments to cover this noble fir at the base was a needlepoint village. oh, here you see mrs. bush made a couple of ornaments herself. there's her dog, millie, and she made raggedy ann and andy for the tree. and here at the base of the tree, you can see it has a working freight train marked houston and washington dc as well as 80 turn of the century houses, churches and other structures all made out of needlepoint. it was absolutely spectacular. it also ed a 92 piec noah's ark, and it was a typical noah's ark with an el' monkeys and alligators. but it also included a pair of prt and some other funvice ones that this would mark the 23rd and final and gingerbread hoe made by hans rother to mrs. nixon hired. and it w a typical a framed

house that included millie and some other personal items. buit was his final and last and what we love and have to be so gratefuor mrs. b she did not want the gingerbread house to end hands. robert was the executive chef the white h and when he hired roland messina, the pastry chef, he ld roland, you will mary sweet for the white house. but you will not make the gingerbread house the two were very close wns robert retired roland to know how he felt about continued to make a gingerbread house every year. so he and mrs. bush talked about it and he agreed to make another gingerbread house as long as it wasn't a framed house that hans crawford had made before. so they made he, of course, how to make a snow village. and if you look very closely, what looks like mrs. claus walking out of the house is actually a replica of mrs. bush coming out with a trifle of cookies. roland loved mrs. bush, and he would make all kinds of wonderful creations for her for a breakfast. she had went for holiday breakfast. he made this wonderful centerpiece.

you can see here, it looks like a christmas ornament with a ribbon. what most people don't realize is that is all sugar. it was completely edible and every guest that attended received a replica of their own filled with cream. here is another close up of it with her ink and see it has a just too picture of the white house on the front. and mrs. clinton administration had a little bit of a different look gone are sort of the flop trees of the reagan and bush years, but you would see all sorts of wonderful colors during the clinton era. mrs. clinton, if you look closely at the bottom of this tree skirt, you can see it sort of is an echoing of representing the entire country. she the custom tree skirt made there was on display all eight years while she was first lady, representing every state and territory. and again, gone are the flock trees. but you see the beauti reds. this is the olonnade. and you can seeon the far right side there's boxes i was

talking about with the christmas cards that mrs. nixon had started collecting in her point, such re when the marine guards are posted outside the west wing, you know, the president is in the oval office. and here's a close up of that tree skirt we were talking about with first pet socks. and it really just was the wonderful tree skirt representing our entire nation and what i love most about bill clinton here is these thou again about the clinton era as during christmas, as her relation ship with roland missoni. she basically gave them the freedom to do whatever he wanted as long as he continued the tradition of the gingerbread house. and this is when you see it really take off and become such an anticipated event with the media, it was still stayed on the same state dinner table that mrs. nixon had put it on his first year with the clintons. he did a replica of the white house. it's one of his favorite gingerbread houses, and it included 21 different versions of first pet socks. fancy on the next share. he surprised the clintons, and

he had gotten pictures of president clinton's childhood home and had an exact replica made on it that was complete with his german shhe line on the front porch and a pie cooling in the window. the next year he had mrs. n's home. you can see here in that year, she had had the theme twas the night behristmas. socut out the windows of her home and in one bed you see the dren snuggled up and on the other one they would see the stockings hanging above the chimney with care. and she would have artisans from throughout the country that were faus and not famous at the ti. she would have christopher radko, ralph lauren, you would see the council of fashion designers, the society of needlepoint, you name it, and they would come to the white house during the clinton administration and come help this society of decorative painters came a couple of times. here you see the council of fashion designers. they are in the bottom one. you can see kate unger designed

a suit for mrs. claus and mrs. clinton was real funny. during the media tour, she walked by and said, i think mrs. claus is going to need to go on a diet. so ine th year, roland messina and following the theme of athena's workshop, created a santa's workshop, gingerbread house, one of my father's most favorite years during her administration was 1999 holiday treasure. she did a lot for restoring ildings. and so every buildinghat they had helped secure funding for, she put on display throughout the white house little replica miniature replicas on mantles and pure tables. here you can see a seated dinner in the r rm in that year. roll on messina doing holiday treasures had washington display dc made out of gingerbread so you would see not onlyhehite house, mount vernon, the jefferson memorial and here you see the washington monument. the only thing that year that was not edible on display was the working red blinking light at the top of the washington

monument. and they were also really famous for this wonderful wreath that was the largest and heaviest structure to ever be put on the white house. it weighed ever £2,000. and the artist that made this wonderful wreath had 1500 lights it. each one was hand dipped a blue gel to get the perfect prt seal blue. he didn't want it to be roya blue. it was not the right color, nor was navy. it was too dark. veryone was hand it to make it this perfect blue. and first lady laura bush, as we know, was a librarian. and i really think those years of her being a librarian and school teacher gave her so many ideas for the holidays for her first christmas. they could not have had a more fitting theme. and every first lady will tell you, or if you read their memoirs, we'll talk about one of their biggest surprises is following the president's inauguration. they would have a meeting with the white house chief usher and

the florist and some others. and they would say, and what would you like your christmas theme to be? a couple. the first lady has actually thought it was a joke since they were asking in january, but the truth of the matter is really in january, they are starting to think about christmas and what the next theme will be. and by the time the easter egg roll has come and gone, christmas is well ordered and on its way and you can't change the theme in for her first chrima she decided to have home for the holidays as a theme and really following the tragic events of 911, you could not have had a better theme that year at the white house. and ithey all flocked white theme at the white house celebrating our former presidents homes. and she would at she reached out to the governor of every state and asked them to pick local artisans to depict something of their home state with the only requirement mean that it was white. so here you see all these wonderful replica, the faus homes and other structures in the blue room tree on the pier

tables. she reached out to the executive resident staff, the electricians, the plumbers and everybody and asked if they would want to participate. and of course they did. and they made exact replicas from blueprints of many former presidents homes, including mount vernon. here you see mtillo. in the what most western ame. it was lbj ranch. and if you were to go to the george w bush library in dallas, texas today, they have all of these out on display. they've completely recreated the 2001 christmas. and it's absolutely spectacular year for the gingerbread house. that year she did have a requirement for chef missoni. she said he pretty much have the freedom to make it as big or however he wanted, but it had to always be a replica of the white house. so in keeping with the theme that year he had the white house at 1800 and seen it as the truman balcony missing again, more of the beautiful flock trees.

in 2003, she celebrated all creatures great andmall, all the president's pets. i love this picture below. barbara bush, his portrait. you see a papier maché rlica of millie, bush's famous presidential dog. and it's puppy spot. he belonged to president mrs. george w bush. a little fun trivia spot is the only dogs live at the white house under. two different administrations since. she was born at the white house and then returned and many of the executive residence staff, like chef messina, would say they were so excited to see their friend back at the white house and here you see these wonderful poinsettia trees again. it was very much a red christmas that year. and that year mrs. bush reached out again to the governor of every state, asking them again to pick out a local artist to depict their local bird or their state bird, be on display in the blue room and on the pier tables and mantles. again, more paper maché replicas. there you see the president a

first lady, his pets, their cat, india and their dog spot. and barney. but you see someer favorite flight, john and the adams alligator. he reportedly lived in the east room's bathtub. you see nelson gege washington's loyal horse. we see the coolidge's raccoons, rebecca and raven, just to name a few. caroline kennedy's famous pony, macaroni and here you see chef melania again at work. and they're the centerpiece for the dessert table was, of course, america's wonderful eagle that eagles spanned actually a was five feet across and what again completely edible all made out of chocolate and marzipan. and here you can s psident george h.w. bush like his dad in his oval office, always had gingerbread cookies. so anyone lucky to have meeting might get a cookie. and in 2002, following the

events of 911, the white house was largely shut down. you weren't seeing the candle light tours. you weren't seeing many of the tours. we'd come to used to have at the white house. and it was really concerning to mrs. bush that the white house was not open for so many people to see. so she came up with one of the most popular things of all times, barney cam, and she had two tons of media interviews and things, letting the tv cameras into the white house. but they also put a video camera on their little dog, barney had barney run through the white house. so you really could, during the holidays, log on to the white house and see it at any time. all these wonderful images that not only barney took, but some of the staff took, and it was one of the most successful web launches of all time. so i think it had 2 million hits on its debut i'm sorry, 24 million views on the day it was hit. a big difference, but it was 24 million views and 12 three a season of stories i love most about this holiday is that it's very much like all of our own

families. mrs. first lady laura bush like her mother in law, barbara bush cared a lot about literacy. and like many us, will borrow ornaments from our family members. first lady laura bush thought it would be great for jenna barbara to borrow their grandmother's ornaments. and barbara bush thought was a wonderful idea. so she called do ther presidential library and they had them pack up all these wonderful dolls that had been display on her first christmas. and they returned to the white house. she had then, of course, added a candy motif to all the garlands and everything throughout the white house. and she had paper mhé dolls created for all the peer tables again. and i love that she really is some of her favorites, like nancy drew in the hardy boys. but then she included ildren.orary favorites of y li harry potter. so, so wonderful reflection of new and old that christmas again, a centerpiece for the dessert table made my role on melania. and it's the chocolate factory.

and here you can see a little glimpse on at thoffsite facility where they're preparing for christmas months in advance and the gingerbread house that year they're just pictures do not do justice when you look closely at all these little marzipan and chocolate victorack d the anstalk, all these wonderful depictions, there you see the cat in the hat, alice in wonderland, replicas of all the children's classics. in here. i just love that picture. again, just giving us a glimpse of what it's like that weekend after thanksgiving setting up the white house for the holidays and 2005, all things bright and beautiful, might be the most challenging in christmas the white house has ever faced. and everything was natural and fresh that year. it was absolutely breathtaking. the entire blue room was made of freshly made the white house florist department developed a special way to wire on little test tubes onto the branches of

the tree filled with water. and daily they would walk the tree and replace the flowers as needed. e ly exception would be t very top of the tree or the very back that required scaffolding to reach those freeze dried flowers. othe everything was fresh. and one of my favorite stories was from the white house he said that the photographers typically would be the last ones to the staff party during the holidaysse they were taking everybody's pictures as they never got to sit in the honored seats. the blue room holiday and so that year and they devised a plan and one or two of the photographers with they cured those tables, everyone ook the pictures. the male photographers said the fragrance was so overwhelming from those wonderful lilies, tuld not eat their food and they had to get up and felt fit elsewhere. but it was in the ground floor corridor. you would see replicas. the first pets or other animals made up topiary ivies in here. it's just it's a wonderful way to show that when you're decorating at your own home, you're not required these reds

and greens you can use any colors. so you see her white tulips with yellow lemons below lady boards, ladybird portraits and hot pinks, oranges, fuchss. the sky's the limit when it comes to christmas colors. it's just beaiful. there you see that? wonderful creche securedy lady bird is still between the portraits of george martha washington whington. again, all of those tulips are real, so they were placed as needed. and here we have a new white house pastry chef, thaddeus de boer. and of course, his gingerbre house inudes barney and miss beasley. the white house pets. and deck the halls and wco always inspired by the red room was sort of in honor of the red room at the white house. the palette was real simple with red and green, primarily red here we can see the filming the barney can the story that i love from this christmas and has to do withhe gingerbread house. thaddeus de boer has gone into

the private sector and mrs. bush has not selected a new pastry chef yet, so she called her old friend roland messina, who was more than happy to return to the white house during the christmas season. and where the chefs create this gingerbread house is they start working on it. that's advance. roland would sometimes start working in august on the marzipan figures, but they actually put it together in the china room of the white house. there's a little elevator off that hall. and so they at once it was finally put together. they put on a little cart, wheel it up the elevator. and that year, roland was really excited to make another gingerbread house. and it was to big to fit on the elevator. so in the wee hours of the morning, he had to go outside, put the gingerbread house on a van, drive it around to the front entrance of the white house and carry it in. and it was absoluty breathtaking. it included over 800 hand pe snowflakes. it weighed over £300. and again, it's just gingerbread and dark chocolate and marzipan.

and it was absolute wonderful. it was a view of the south portico of the white house. here you see the president's seat at a holiday party. let's see a few minutes click and 27 and holiday in the national park. but i like to show here is that we do have a new white house pastry chef. he's still there today. the bill closes. he wanted to make his own mark on the white house. gingerbread houses, however, and so he creates white chocolate house houses, making them the most heaviest to date. and again, like roland messina, he oftentimes will use actual blueprints to create these gingerbread houses. but it was the most heaviest, weighing several hundred pounds. and you can just see the hours and the exact ness of the bricks and everything for those gingerbread houses. they're absolutely fabulous. again, we can't have a gingerbread house without

including barney and miss beasley. celebrating the parks. he put all the animals you would find in our national parks down at the base. and here we see. and prident bush went in to go thank all the wonderful volunteers helping create the sweets that year a made a cookie for himself in the room. and you can see all the preparation there, some pieces of the gingerbread houses behind them for their final christmas in 2008, a red white and blue christmas. they brought out all the things they had in their previous seven years to be on display again. and it's just a wonderful, patriotic theme. and i think our show here, the little bit of the barney can i was telling you about earlier.

it's really great to have the whole family together like this. it really is special. in fact, willard, i think these are the memories we're going to cherish most about our time in the white house. well, that willard and when barney decorates the whole house for the holidays. all right. what do you have in store this year? celebrate america. that's a great way to spend our last holiday here in the white house. a real red, white and blue holiday, a very patriotic. it seems like you'll be busy, barney. you better get started. yeah. vacancy here. every year the plots have become more involved and more detailed with the barney cam. we have special guests coming on every year at the prime minister, came from england, came on one year and this year, a little bit later in the video, you would see the gold medalist from america, from the olympics that year come on. and it's just a great way to really open up the doors to everyone across the world of the white house through the barney cam.

and as we return to the summer olympic games, all up to this final vault by barney, he sticks the landing. barney and miss beazley with their second synchronized dive. and it's a flawless performance and of course, in line for heats the heavy favorite barney. and as they come down to the wire it's barney closing and it's barney by a pull. all right. so back here at the end, you see there, we'll have different people if you recognize these nutcrackers from her previous christmas were dressed up as uncle sam's and you would see this wondeul red, white and blue santa welcoming you when you enter the hall and on here you can barely see them but in the pure tables, these are the wonderful replicas of the president's twin. in one houses. and just red, white and blue everywhere, intertwined in the garlands. it was really special. e sent the exact same ball to

every congressional district. all the congressmen and the senators that year, and have them pick a caartist to depict it. you would see famous ones such as james avery, kay baey huhinson pitch right here in the middle east, save for for hnny his first eric cantor for virginia went to a children's hospital and picked a local child that was battling battling brain cancer to depict hers. his distctays wonderful to see the different artisans. there's james avery i was telling you about earlier. it just made for a beautiful ro tree here. you see the oval office tree. in the state dining room and that wonderful portrait of lincoln. here you get a little glimpse of the chief of staff's tree. he reportedly loved harley davidson. so is a harley davidson theme tree. and you see the wonderful it chocolate gingerbread house with the fife and trim. again, this marzipan and chocolate figures and the obamas

entered the white house. and her first theme was reflect, rejoice and renew. and it made for a beautiful blue room tree with this wonderful stately yellow ribbon running all the way through it and she had over 800 ornaments from previous administrations on display that year at the white house. many of them are sent to local communities centers throughout the country, and they were asked to be depicted their home state in different areas. they were sent to the tree is no longer put up every year. here you do see they are honoring the tradition of the cranberry tree in the red room with a cranberry garland. that was beautiful. and of course, wha's a christmas without a first pet? so you see bo, their new puppy at the white house. and here you see psint obama's tree in the oval office. the next year, she had a simple gifts is her theme. she wrote the greatest blessings of all are ones that don't cost a thing. the time that we spend with our loved ones, the freedoms we enjoy as american, and the joy

feel from reaching out to those in need. and that was honor of her theme. simple gifts, you see, still have that wonderful tradition of the blue room tree being delivered to the whiteouse and the blue room tree here close up with this magnificently huge and of course, you see the dogs are going to start making a much bigger appearance this year.ch and here you see some members of the military seeing the tree for and this year she started doing these ful things. when you the white house as the visitor, you can write a te to the military and they would make sure it was delivered to bases throughout the country and outside of thery to iraq, afghanistan and everywhere else. they might be stationed in it. something that still gs on today. and of course, here we talk about bo. and bo has started to become quite popular. and hereou see a repca made out of 40,000 pipe cleaners. cookies made of replicating bo.

and here you see the white chocolate house with susie morrison and one of the pastry chefs has been there for many years. and of course bo is a huge display there as usual. and here you can see the final touches being put on it in the china room. like we were talking about the president again in the oval office with trees both inside and outside. apologize for my voice. it's that time of year and 2011 that the machine and give and share and here's a video they're doing to bo with sort of the hidden theme that year there were eight replicas of bo this is the littlest bo that we have out of the that we're doing five this year and this is the littlest bo and he's completely made out of buttons and beads and a few little sequins sequins. and there's one little special heart shaped button right here on his heart. it started out where i coated him with this special kind of gorilla tape that's over top of a wire, chicken wire frame.

then i have sort of hand glued every single one of these on. and as you can see, i built up the face a little bit. and the way that his mouth is from the chicken wire to look a little bit more like how bo is in real life, you can see there's certain sequins, sort of like little shines on him, which i think will be nice. and i think the people will enjoy him a lot. so we have so many bows this year, all different kinds and shapes. and we have this one right here. i'm working on as we speak, a knitting trash fagbohun. and he does not have his eyes yet, but he will have eyes then. we have marshmallow and licorice. bo this is marshmallow and licorice. bo. and he is very heavy compared to what he was. this licorice is weighing him down, so he's glued in the same the same idea. and there will be a third one of this little set of babies and that will be completely out of pom poms and our final one, the biggest one is felt an all felt bow that is four and a half feet tall.

i measured him myself. there's nothing more popular than a white house, but this year the theme is 2000 413 is gather around me. and it's a wonderful theme at the white house. and when you first enter, you see this wonderful tree paying tribute to the gold star country.e in service to theost a and so that's where all the gold stars are representing. and again, when you first thing you can do to enter the white house, you can write a note to a service member and. they are delivering them throughout the world. we go on down the colonnade and you see on the rightould be this christmasards we've talked about in the left of the wreath and stained glass windows here you can see a christmas tree made up library books and you see a lot more replicas of first pets, bo and sunny tales are actually moving this year.

ground floor corridor and we see the library room trimmed for the holidays. china ran. here we see the crash. we've been talking about lots of different colors for throughout the house this year. the green room and the blue room praying tribute again following mrs. nixon's tradition representing the entire country inhe military. very red, white and blue. and again, we do not have the cranberry tree yet, but there were cranberries used in the decor that year. in the state dining room. this year the gingerbread house is not just a gingerbread house, it actually has a gingerbread fireplace holding it up, paying tribute to fdr in his fireside chats this year.

a close up. it includes bo and sunny, of course. and harry exited the doors on 1600 pennsylvania avenue. and i have a little video at the end. and i like to always leave people with this wonderful quote written from the sixties about walking through the white house during the holidays. as you leave the white house, there's a feeling with you that you have touched history, you have brushed up against it, you are richer for it, especially christmas especially seems to be an appropriate and sentimental time to view the white. as you leave, you feel a little more confident than when you went in and about the future of this country and the men who make it's history for the white house has a secret to impart. and that secret is the strength, the continuity. ladies and gentlemen, we do have questions. time for a few questions tonight. if you have a question, go ahead and raise your hand and i'll come around to you with the microphone. do we have any tonight? come on.

there's got to be a few. yes, sir. floral. how did you get all the photos? lots and lots of research. and some are actually photos. first family members, some are from presidential libraries and some are actually from the d.c. public archives in a newspaper division. there used to be a newspaper called the washington star. it's no longer in print, but they always had a wonderful social section and, you know, covering the white house. and it really was interesting the first couple of years. one of the challenges was you had read a press release and it might not match up quite with the photograph. and we didn't have computers during their early years. we were covering in this book. so you'd really have to do lots of interviews with different people that were there and then compare the photographs and newspaper and magazine reports. so we came across some great images. yes, sir. hello. i've always been really fascinated by presidential pets. i'm just wondering, out of all the research you've done, what's

one of the pets? was your favorite? oh, that's not fair. are so sweet to let me plug, though. i will get pets at the white house and that's really tough. a lot of people will say there is no greater champion of white house pets than millie. barbara bush's dog. on messina, i will tell you, that is the only true presidential pet. she was presidential to the course. she would never bark and she would walk perfectly behind mrs. bush and. it really is funny to see pictures of her in the book and sitting at a state dinner behind barbara bush. and she would just give her a little pit on the head from time to time during a state dinner. what i love the christmas book in the pet books is they really do reflect many of the first families for the christmas book. you have an introduction written by every living first lady and tricia nixon for the nixon administration and with the pet book you have, here's a portrait of barbara bush with millie. but we have a quote from all the favorite from all the first family members. we actually have betty ford's

last public quote that said liberty was geri's favorite adviser. she gave him something no one else could share until recently, i've always had a golden retriever celebrity was the favorite. and we talked about president nixon's dogs. and, of course, nixon is most famous for checkers, but which most people do not realize is that checkers never actually lived the white house. that was their pet as vice president. so lots of fun there. anyone else? yes, sir. the white house and absolutely contact your local congressional office and they can set you up with a tour and and they can and i just went there recently and it was a lot of fun. i took that was actually my redhead drop and her little note to the military in the mailbox and we even got a presidential pet sighting. bo and sunny walked through while we were there. but definitely contact your congressional office and they can set you up with a tour. sadly, they're not candlelight tours like mrs. nixon's real candles, but there are lots of two are still available right

here. i think you. yes. you said that mrs. ford began the tradition of the cranberry tree. can you tell me, is there any information as to why or what the significance of the cranberries was to her? it was really in honor of that year's christmas with the william spirit christmas, much of the decor that year was stirring the popcorn and other things that really matched the theme. and there was a lady from chestertown, maryland, who came up with it and in the book, they actually will tell you exactly how to create one. and it's just it's a really it was a neat tradition for many, many years. but it wasn't something they set out start that tradition. it was something that mrs. ford like so much. they did that the next year. and it seems to go on and on. and of course, i think i said it was nancy reagan's favorite. yes. are these your first ones? yes, ma'am. yeah. when did the ornaments start? did you say they raise money with those ornaments for some organization? and the white house historical association creates an ornament

every year that started during the reagan administration. and those ornaments you can purchase them at many presidential libraries. you can purchase them online or through the white house. historical association. they raise money for the white house. now, the actual ornaments in the white house are different. they are created by volunteers and then a part of the white house budget. and really, most of the time go back to presidential libraries. lady bird johnson's final year, president johnson actually purchased them as a presidential ladybird so that she could keep them and some the kennedy ornaments, most everyone's not sure exactly where all of those are, but sometimes they return with first families and but and then like the nixons, they left there. so they were on the trees for many, many years. we have a question here from facebook. um, that, uh, you sort of talked about maybe you could elaborate. white house usher clem congress said that pat nixon restored the executive mansion to its golden age. and what specifically? why so? i think she did.