While it may not be the night before Christmas just yet, the White House has already hung stockings by the chimney with care. First Lady Jill Biden unveiled the White House’s 2021 Christmas decorations on Monday, revealing that six striped Christmas stockings had been hung over the fireplace in the State Dining Room for the Bidens’ grandchildren.
To decorate the White House for the 2021 holiday season, the first lady drew inspiration from things she felt united Americans no matter their political beliefs. “Inspired by the acts of kindness and experiences that lifted our spirits this year, decorated rooms in the White House reflect the Gifts from the Heart that unite us all: faith, family, friendship, the arts, learning, nature, gratitude, service, community, peace, and unity,” Jill said Monday in a statement shared over Twitter.
In an expanded joint statement with President Joe Biden, the first lady characterized these “Gifts from the Heart” as things that can “transcend distance, time, and even the constraints of a pandemic” to unite us. “As we celebrate our first holiday season in the White House, we are inspired by Americans across the country, who, time and again remind us that our differences are precious and our similarities infinite,” the Bidens said. “These are the gifts that tie together the heart strings of our lives.”
Each room in the White House has been decorated to reflect and celebrate one of the gifts. In the State Dining Room, for example, two towering Christmas trees have been adorned with photographs of past and present first families to celebrate the “Gift of Family” and honor the families who have made the White House a home. To further the room’s theme of family, red-white-and-green striped stockings embroidered with the names of Biden’s grandchildren have been hung on the mantle under a portrait of President Abraham Lincoln that was painted by George Peter Alexander Healy in 1869.
It’s not altogether surprising the president and the first lady sought to include a nod to their grandchildren in their White House holiday decor as the family is known to be tight-knit. In fact, in February, the president revealed he’d had a crib brought into the White House for his youngest grandchild, 19-month-old Beau. Altogether, the Bidens share two grandchildren from the president’s late son Beau and four from his son Hunter. It is unclear if the president has a relationship with his seventh grandchild, an unidentified 3-year-old whom a judge declared Hunter to be the biological father of in a court ruling issued last year.
Elsewhere in the State Dining Room, this year’s official Gingerbread White House sits on the historic eagle pier console table. It aims to celebrate frontline workers and their families with eight gingerbread replicas of common frontline worker-staffed community buildings, including a hospital, fire station, police station, post office, grocery store, gas station, church, and warehouse.
“The State Dining Room celebrates the cherished Gift of Family — those we are born into, those we choose, and those we create,” the White House noted in a brochure detailing this year’s holiday decorations. “The pandemic kept many of us apart, yet it also reminded us that our time together is so precious.”
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