Thousands of people from across the United States volunteer for a very exclusive holiday experience: decorating the White House for Christmas. Of all of those applicants, only 300 are chosen.
The volunteers work during Thanksgiving week, although they do have Thanksgiving Day off. In all, 4,572 meters of ribbon, 142,000 lights, 34,000 ornaments, 22,000 bells, 72 wreaths and 98 Christmas trees were used to deck the presidential mansion for the holidays this year.
And while the end result is downright magical, that’s not at all how it started.
“There's a couple of days that are spent in another location prepping all the crafts,” says Charlotte Smith, a content creator from Connecticut who was one of the volunteers. “It looks so polished and beautiful now when you see it. But what I love about it is that everything starts with sheets of paper and glue sticks and scissors and ribbon, so it is truly from-the-ground-up crafts.”
Marite Espinoza Sanchez, also a volunteer, is a content creator from Texas.
“Everyone would look at the White House and think, ‘Oh my god, everything's, you know, like, so perfect,’” she says. “But there's so much detail, so much crafting, that goes into the decorations.”
The planning for White House holiday decorating begins nine months ahead of installation. That’s when the first lady is consulted about what the year’s theme should be. Jill Biden chose “Magic, Wonder and Joy” as this year’s inspiration, focusing on how children view the holiday season.
“Each room is designed to capture this pure, unfiltered delight and imagination,” the first lady said after the decorations were unveiled on November 27.
Each year, the volunteers are chosen based on different criteria.
“Our volunteers are selected for, some for their talent, some for the essays that they write,” says Carlos Elizondo, White House social secretary. “It's really special to find people that come from across America that aren't necessarily designers. They're military spouses, or they’re housewives. This year, I feel like we had a lot of educators.”
Once selected, the volunteers are divided into teams. Actors turned professional crafters Andrew Boza and Dennis Setteducati worked on a giant advent calendar.
“We had some people that were specifically decorating the trees, and then we also had some people that were doing the building and the heavy lifting,” says Setteducati, a volunteer from New York who is also a do-it-yourself content creator on social media. “And that was kind of a fun part, to kind of discover everybody’s strengths.”
Working inside the White House was a surreal experience for Boza, also a content creator from New York.
“We walked on the front lawn, and I just looked back, and after years of being on the other side of the gate, seeing this beautiful house, I just had this moment where it just filled me with such gratitude,” Boza, a former teacher, says.
It was also an emotional experience for Peruvian American Espinoza Sanchez.
“As an American citizen, as an immigrant as well, you always look at the White House and think, ‘Oh my god. This is, you know, such a wonderful place.’ Maybe thinking that it's unattainable,” she says. “Being here is so special for me.”
Displays the volunteers worked on included holiday candy and other sweets dangling overhead, a sweet shop full of holiday cakes and cookies in the China Room, and a nativity scene in the East Room, the largest space at the White House. The official White House Christmas tree was set up in the Blue Room, with a model train circling the base. The State Dining Room was transformed into Santa’s workshop.
Seeing the end result is gratifying, according to Smith, who posted behind-the-scenes White House holiday decorating content on her social media account.
“It's everything from individual pride to see the little ornament that you made, or the little garland that you hung,” Smith says, “and realizing how many people are going to come through here and feel the wonder of the season.”
About 100,000 people are expected to visit the White House this holiday season to get a firsthand look at the decorations.