• 2023 Red Room Holiday Decorations, Biden Administration
    David Wiegold
    winter holidays
    decorations
    State Floor
    Red Room
    Christmas
    cranberry tree
    This photograph of the Red Room cranberry tree was taken by David Wiegold on November 27, 2023 during a press preview of the White House holiday decorations. President Joseph R. Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden selected "Magic, Wonder, and Joy" as the 2023 holiday theme. The decor was inspired by children and how they embrace and revel in the holiday season. The 2023 Red Room décor looked to the joy, creativity, and collaboration involved in making holiday crafts. Representing Dr. Biden’s Joining Forces initiative, the ornaments in the room featured handprints and painted family portraits made by children with military connections. The cranberry tree is a White House holiday tradition dating back to the Gerald R. Ford administration.
  • 2023 Red Room Holiday Decorations, Biden Administration
    David Wiegold
    winter holidays
    decorations
    State Floor
    Red Room
    Christmas
    cranberry tree
    This photograph of the Red Room cranberry tree was taken by David Wiegold on November 27, 2023 during a press preview of the White House holiday decorations. President Joseph R. Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden selected "Magic, Wonder, and Joy" as the 2023 holiday theme. The decor was inspired by children and how they embrace and revel in the holiday season. The 2023 Red Room décor looked to the joy, creativity, and collaboration involved in making holiday crafts. Representing Dr. Biden’s Joining Forces initiative, the ornaments in the room featured handprints and painted family portraits made by children with military connections. The cranberry tree is a White House holiday tradition dating back to the Gerald R. Ford administration.
  • 2023 Red Room Holiday Decorations, Biden Administration
    David Wiegold
    winter holidays
    decorations
    State Floor
    Red Room
    Christmas
    cranberry tree
    This photograph of the Red Room cranberry tree was taken by David Wiegold on November 27, 2023 during a press preview of the White House holiday decorations. President Joseph R. Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden selected "Magic, Wonder, and Joy" as the 2023 holiday theme. The decor was inspired by children and how they embrace and revel in the holiday season. The 2023 Red Room décor looked to the joy, creativity, and collaboration involved in making holiday crafts. Representing Dr. Biden’s Joining Forces initiative, the ornaments in the room featured handprints and painted family portraits made by children with military connections. The cranberry tree is a White House holiday tradition dating back to the Gerald R. Ford administration.
  • 2021 Cranberry Tree Display, Biden Administratiion
    David Wiegold
    winter holidays
    decorations
    State Floor
    Red Room
    cranberry tree
    This photograph of a pair of cranberry trees in the Red Room was taken by David Wiegold on November 29, 2021 during a press preview of the White House holiday decorations. A cranberry tree has traditionally been displayed in the Red Room as a feature of the Christmas decorations in the White House since 1975. For their first year in the White House, President Joseph R. Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden chose the theme, "Gifts from the Heart." The theme was meant to honor the things we cherish and bring us together despite the obstacles posed by a pandemic, time, and distance. Decorations in the Red Room honored the "Gift of the Performing Arts" and also featured musical instruments and ballet slippers.
  • 2021 Cranberry Tree Display, Biden Administratiion
    David Wiegold
    winter holidays
    decorations
    State Floor
    Red Room
    cranberry tree
    This photograph of a pair of cranberry trees in the Red Room was taken by David Wiegold on November 29, 2021 during a press preview of the White House holiday decorations. A cranberry tree has traditionally been displayed in the Red Room as a feature of the Christmas decorations in the White House since 1975. For their first year in the White House, President Joseph R. Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden chose the theme, "Gifts from the Heart." The theme was meant to honor the things we cherish and bring us together despite the obstacles posed by a pandemic, time, and distance. Decorations in the Red Room honored the "Gift of the Performing Arts" and also featured musical instruments and ballet slippers.
  • 2021 Cranberry Tree Display, Biden Administratiion
    David Wiegold
    winter holidays
    decorations
    State Floor
    Red Room
    cranberry tree
    This photograph of a pair of cranberry trees in the Red Room was taken by David Wiegold on November 29, 2021 during a press preview of the White House holiday decorations. A cranberry tree has traditionally been displayed in the Red Room as a feature of the Christmas decorations in the White House since 1975. For their first year in the White House, President Joseph R. Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden chose the theme, "Gifts from the Heart." The theme was meant to honor the things we cherish and bring us together despite the obstacles posed by a pandemic, time, and distance. Decorations in the Red Room honored the "Gift of the Performing Arts" and also featured musical instruments and ballet slippers.
  • 2021 Cranberry Tree Display, Biden Administratiion
    David Wiegold
    winter holidays
    decorations
    State Floor
    Red Room
    cranberry tree
    This photograph of a pair of cranberry trees in the Red Room was taken by David Wiegold on November 29, 2021 during a press preview of the White House holiday decorations. A cranberry tree has traditionally been displayed in the Red Room as a feature of the Christmas decorations in the White House since 1975. For their first year in the White House, President Joseph R. Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden chose the theme, "Gifts from the Heart." The theme was meant to honor the things we cherish and bring us together despite the obstacles posed by a pandemic, time, and distance. Decorations in the Red Room honored the "Gift of the Performing Arts" and also featured musical instruments and ballet slippers.
  • 2021 Cranberry Tree Display, Biden Administratiion
    David Wiegold
    winter holidays
    decorations
    State Floor
    Red Room
    cranberry tree
    This photograph of a pair of cranberry trees in the Red Room was taken by David Wiegold on November 29, 2021 during a press preview of the White House holiday decorations. A cranberry tree has traditionally been displayed in the Red Room as a feature of the Christmas decorations in the White House since 1975. For their first year in the White House, President Joseph R. Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden chose the theme, "Gifts from the Heart." The theme was meant to honor the things we cherish and bring us together despite the obstacles posed by a pandemic, time, and distance. Decorations in the Red Room honored the "Gift of the Performing Arts" and also featured musical instruments and ballet slippers.
  • 2021 Cranberry Tree Display, Biden Administratiion
    David Wiegold
    winter holidays
    decorations
    State Floor
    Red Room
    cranberry tree
    This photograph of a pair of cranberry trees in the Red Room was taken by David Wiegold on November 29, 2021 during a press preview of the White House holiday decorations. A cranberry tree has traditionally been displayed in the Red Room as a feature of the Christmas decorations in the White House since 1975. For their first year in the White House, President Joseph R. Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden chose the theme, "Gifts from the Heart." The theme was meant to honor the things we cherish and bring us together despite the obstacles posed by a pandemic, time, and distance. Decorations in the Red Room honored the "Gift of the Performing Arts" and also featured musical instruments and ballet slippers.
  • 2021 Cranberry Tree Display, Biden Administratiion
    David Wiegold
    winter holidays
    decorations
    State Floor
    Red Room
    cranberry tree
    This close-up photograph of a pair of cranberry trees in the Red Room was taken by David Wiegold on November 29, 2021 during a press preview of the White House holiday decorations. A cranberry tree has traditionally been displayed in the Red Room as a feature of the Christmas decorations in the White House since 1975. For their first year in the White House, President Joseph R. Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden chose the theme, "Gifts from the Heart." The theme was meant to honor the things we cherish and bring us together despite the obstacles posed by a pandemic, time, and distance. Decorations in the Red Room honored the "Gift of the Performing Arts" and also featured musical instruments and ballet slippers.
  • 2021 Cranberry Tree Display, Biden Administratiion
    David Wiegold
    winter holidays
    decorations
    State Floor
    Red Room
    cranberry tree
    This photograph of a pair of cranberry trees in the Red Room was taken by David Wiegold on November 29, 2021 during a press preview of the White House holiday decorations. A cranberry tree has traditionally been displayed in the Red Room as a feature of the Christmas decorations in the White House since 1975. For their first year in the White House, President Joseph R. Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden chose the theme, "Gifts from the Heart." The theme was meant to honor the things we cherish and bring us together despite the obstacles posed by a pandemic, time, and distance. Decorations in the Red Room honored the "Gift of the Performing Arts" and also featured musical instruments and ballet slippers.
  • Reception following Press Preview of 1976 Holiday Decorations
    Karl Schumacher
    winter holidays
    receptions
    decorations
    cranberry tree
    State Floor
    Red Room
    Christmas
    In this photograph, taken by Karl Schumacher on December 9, 1976, First Lady Betty Ford shows a Christmas ornament to an unidentified guest in the Red Room at a reception following the press preview for the 1976 White House holiday decorations. Notably, on a guéridon table behind Mrs. Ford is a cranberry tree. Mrs. Ford initiated the tradition of displaying a cranberry tree in the Red Room in 1975, and it has remained a traditional part of the White House seasonal decorations ever since. In 1976, First Lady Betty Ford selected the theme "Love that is the Spirit of Christmas" for her holiday theme. Coinciding with the year of the American bicentennial, the decorations included patriotic dioramas and ornaments on the Blue Room Christmas Tree representing the state flowers from each of the fifty states.
  • Assembly of the Cranberry Tree
    Ricardo Thomas
    cranberry tree
    Red Room
    State Floor
    winter holidays
    decorations
    Christmas
    In this black-and-white photograph, taken by Ricardo Thomas on December 6, 1975, volunteer Christine Heineman assembles a cranberry tree in the Red Room for the holiday season. This was the first year that a cranberry tree was included as part of the Christmas decorations at the White House, and similar cranberry trees have been traditionally displayed in the Red Room ever since. In 1975, First Lady Betty Ford selected "An Old-Fashioned Christmas in America," also referred to as "A Williamsburg Children's Christmas," for her holiday theme, and enlisted the help of Colonial Williamsburg staff and volunteers to assist in the creation of traditional decorations.
  • Assistant Chief Florist Wendy Elsasser Tends the Cranberry Tree
    Tina Hager
    winter holidays
    staff
    decorations
    cranberry tree
    State Floor
    Residence staff
    Red Room
    Christmas
    In this photograph, taken by Tina Hager in 2001, assistant chief florist Wendy Elsasser carefully examines the cranberry tree in the Red Room. White House florists constructed the tree over the course of four days. Traditionally displayed in the Red Room, cranberry trees have been a feature of the Christmas decorations in the White House since 1975, during the Gerald R. Ford administration.
  • 2020 Cranberry Tree in the Red Room
    Matthew D’Agostino
    winter holidays
    decorations
    cranberry tree
    State Floor
    Red Room
    This close-up photograph of a cranberry tree on display in the Red Room was taken by Matthew D'Agostino on November 30, 2020 during a press preview of the White House holiday decorations. The tree has been a feature of the Christmas decorations in the White House since 1975. In 2020, decorations in the Red Room honored the service of America’s first responders and frontline workers. The stand for the cranberry tree reflected this theme with felt-crafted scenes of everyday heroism. The holiday theme for 2020 was “America the Beautiful,” which celebrated the natural wonders of the American landscape. Selected by First Lady Melania Trump, the White House decorations also paid tribute to the courage and resilience of frontline workers, members of the military, and other American heroes. In 2020, American frontline and essential workers faced unique challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • 2020 Cranberry Tree in the Red Room
    Matthew D’Agostino
    winter holidays
    decorations
    cranberry tree
    State Floor
    Red Room
    This photograph of a cranberry tree on display in the Red Room was taken by Matthew D'Agostino on November 30, 2020 during a press preview of the White House holiday decorations. The tree has been a feature of the Christmas decorations in the White House since 1975. In 2020, decorations in the Red Room honored the service of America’s first responders and frontline workers. The stand for the cranberry tree reflected this theme with felt-crafted scenes of everyday heroism. The tree is pictured under the 1877 landscape painting "Castle Rock, Nahant, Massachusetts," by Alfred Thompson Bricher. The holiday theme for 2020 was “America the Beautiful,” which celebrated the natural wonders of the American landscape. Selected by First Lady Melania Trump, the White House decorations also paid tribute to the courage and resilience of frontline workers, members of the military, and other American heroes. In 2020, American frontline and essential workers faced unique challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic.