A Visit to the White House

On Saturday, I was privileged to visit the White House on a scheduled tour. Many of my friends were surprised when I told them that the Executive Mansion is still open to public tours; they were under the impression that tours ceased after September 11, 2001. Happily, that's not the case. You can, indeed, tour the White House, under certain conditions.

Our group met at our appointed time outside the Southeast Entrance. After waiting for a while on the cold walkway, we showed our ID's to the security team and passed through metal detectors. I've been to the White House before, but never at Christmas. It's quite a sight.

The First Lady and her team choose the White House holiday theme early in the year, then spend the next several months designing the decorations. According to the friend who helped us arrange our tour, the White House decorating team has to put up all the garlands, wreaths and trees in about a day and a half, and they take it all down in one day.

This year, the theme is "Holiday in the National Parks." The main Christmas tree, which fills practically the entire Blue Room, is decorated with golden lights, gold stars and glass balls, and features an ornament representing every national park, monument and historic site - 391 in all. The ornaments are works of art. If you can't make it to Washington, D.C., you can see an online slide show of all the ornaments at the official White House website.

The White House chefs work extremely hard during the holiday season. Each year, they create a model of the White House from gingerbread, white chocolate and dark chocolate. It's huge - it weighs 300 pounds - and takes over three months to make. My daughter was disappointed to learn that no one gets to eat it.

If you'd like to tour the White House, you will need to put a group of ten or more people together and contact your Member of Congress at least six months in advance. Whether you visit the White House during a vacation trip to D.C. or come particularly to see the holiday decorations, you'll truly enjoy the visit.

Photo © Susan Marton