White House celebrates Xmas with recycled ornaments, natural materials and gingerbread house

White House Xmas theme: ‘Reflect, rejoice, renew’

WASHINGTON — The White House is celebrating Christmas with recycled ornaments, natural materials and, of course, a gingerbread White House. The 390-pound work of culinary art is covered in white chocolate and has a marzipan replica of family dog, Bo.

“Reflect, Rejoice, Renew” is the theme for the Obama family’s first Christmas in the White House.

Previewing the holiday decorations Wednesday, first lady Michelle Obama said the theme was chosen because her family spends the holidays reflecting on its blessings, rejoicing in the company of friends and family, and renewing their commitments to each other and causes they believe in.

“I wanted to continue that part of the tradition during our first holiday season at the White House,” she said at an event where she also thanked more than 90 volunteers from 24 states who since last weekend logged some 3,400 hours transforming the mansion into a Christmas wonderland.

“And this year has been filled with an infinite number of blessings for me and my family,” the first lady said.

Inspiration for the decorations came from the house itself, with Mrs. Obama choosing traditional decorations to reflect the architecture and color scheme of each room of the Georgian-style mansion. Natural materials such as magnolia, hydrangea, honeysuckle vine and pepper berries decorate trees and wreaths in rooms on the State Floor, along with dried root materials from her vegetable garden on the South Lawn.

The centerpiece of it all is in the Blue Room: an 18½-by-13-foot Douglas fir that was delivered last Friday and is lit with environmentally sound LED lights, decorated with huge gold ribbons and bows and more than 650 ornaments from prior administrations, and is tied to the ceiling.

The ornaments were sent to local community groups around the country with instructions to decorate them in tribute to a favorite local landmark and return them to the White House. Landmarks honored range from the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore to the Kennedy Space Center and, one of her favorites, the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, the Obama family’s hometown.

Two 15-foot Fraser fir trees were placed on either side of the main doorway into the Blue Room, and decorated with reflective shimmering glass balls, claret colored beaded glass branches, red bows, gold pine cones and other trimmings.

Another highly anticipated part of Christmas at the White House is the gingerbread replica.

It took six weeks for executive pastry chef Bill Yosses and his staff to create the 390-pound, 56-by-29-inch white chocolate-covered gingerbread White House, as seen from the South Portico, with green royal icing wreaths adorning its windows.

Two new additions to the gingerbread house this year are Mrs. Obama’s garden, complete with marzipan vegetables, and a cutout that gives viewers a look inside the gingerbread State Dining Room, with a lit chandelier and furniture made of dark chocolate.

More than 50,000 people are expected to attend a total of 28 holiday parties and open houses the White House has scheduled this month. The first such event came Tuesday night in the East Room, honoring the volunteer decorators.

“I heard you all partying last night,” Mrs. Obama told about a dozen volunteers who attended the preview. “You had a great time.”

The first lady, festively dressed for the occasion in a bright green, sleeveless dress also announced that White House staffers will collect toys for the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve’s annual “Toys for Tots” drive. She also announced the launch of the United We Serve “Feed a Neighbor” initiative, a government effort to help communities fight hunger, which has reached its highest levels in nearly 15 years.

Visitors to the Web site serve.gov can find volunteer opportunities, such as delivering meals to homebound seniors, offering their professional skills at a food pantry or planting a community garden and sharing the produce with neighbors.

Mrs. Obama said the Toys for Tots program distributed more than 16.2 million toys to 7.6 million children last year. She said she would personally deliver toys collected at the White House to the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va., later this month.

On the Net:

Marine Corps Toys for Tots: www.toysfortots.org

United We Serve: serve.gov