White House Christmas Celebrations Through the Years: Photos

Every president has brought their own traditions into the White House.

Grover Cleveland, for example, lit up the first Christmas tree inside the White House to the delight of his young daughters.

Calvin Coolidge was the first president to host a public Christmas celebration at the White House, with the first National Christmas Tree lighting in 1923.

Over 6,000 people attended the first National Christmas Tree lighting.

The tree lighting ceremony and the president’s participation has been a yearly tradition since then.

This year’s National Christmas Tree lighting will air on CBS on Sunday, December 5.

Glowing trees lit up a side entrance to the White House in 1931.

A Christmas wreath also glowed above the door.

Franklin Roosevelt spent 10 consecutive Christmas holidays in the White House and emphasized the importance of family during the holiday season.

The East Room featured a Christmas tree decorated with string lights and tinsel.

FDR invited four generations of family into the White House for Christmas.

His children and grandchildren enjoyed spending Christmas Eve in the presidential residence to partake in two of Roosevelt’s favorite holiday traditions: hanging stockings and reading, “A Christmas Carol.”

Children joined Roosevelt at the White House to ring in Christmas with carols in 1940.

First lady Eleanor Roosevelt also invited Girl Scouts to sing carols with her in the East Room in 1936.

President Harry Truman welcomed some unusual guests to the White House in December 1948 when he was gifted turkeys for his Christmas dinner.

The turkeys were gifted to him by the Poultry and Egg National Board and the National Turkey Federation.

President Dwight Eisenhower and first lady Mamie Eisenhower posed with their family in 1958 on the North Portico of the White House.

The North Portico featured two lit Christmas trees.

Eisenhower’s first family also posed for a Christmas Eve picture in front of a tinsel-covered tree.

The Eisenhowers had two children, Doud Dwight (nicknamed “Icky”) and John.

First lady Jacqueline Kennedy began the tradition of themed White House decorations with Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite” taking over the Blue Room in 1961.

First daughter Caroline admired the tree before a party for employees.

In 1962, the White House Christmas tree was decorated with ornaments inspired by children, including candy canes and gingerbread cookies.

The tree also reused many of the Nutcracker ornaments from the previous year, according to the White House Historical Association.

Despite Jackie’s decorating efforts, the Kennedy family chose to celebrate Christmas Day in Palm Beach.

They spent Christmas at the home of financier C. Michael Paul.

A banner with a holiday sentiment was hung for the annual Christmas Pageant of Peace on the Ellipse, in front of the White House, in 1963.

Flags were ordered to fly half-mast through December, mourning the November death of President Kennedy.

In 1983, the Reagans decorated their Christmas tree with ornaments made by two South Korean children they brought to the US on Air Force One for heart surgery.

One of the children, Brett Halvorson, reunited with Nancy Reagan in 2007.

“As I was only 4 years old, my memory of Mrs. Reagan is very vague,” Halvorson, told ABC News in 2016. “But what I do remember is that I felt comfort and love from a woman that was a complete stranger.”

In 2001, George W. and Laura Bush read books to local schoolchildren surrounded by Christmas trees decorated with lights and fake snow.

The president and first lady hosted students from Hoffman-Boston Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia, which American Airlines Flight 77 flew over before it crashed into the Pentagon on September 11.

Christmas trees in the State Dining Room featured photos of the Bidens, as well as past presidential families.

Former presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy, and Franklin D. Roosevelt were pictured with their families.

The theme of this year’s White House Christmas decorations is “We the People.”

“For this year’s holidays at the White House, we hope to capture the spirit embodied in the very idea of America: We the People,” the first lady wrote in a welcome letter in the 2022 White House Holiday Guide. “During your visit to the People’s House, through rooms full of history and holiday décor, in the mirrored ornaments and reflective lights, our hope is that you feel at home and find yourself in the great story of America.”

In keeping with the “We the People” theme, the gingerbread White House also features a gingerbread model of Independence Hall.

Located in the State Dining Room, the gingerbread White House took 20 sheets of sugar cookie dough, 30 sheets of gingerbread dough, 30 pounds of chocolate, and 40 pounds of royal icing to construct.