Here's Where It Gets Interesting - Memorable Moments of White House Holidays

Episode Date: December 23, 2022

On today’s special holiday episode of Here’s Where It Gets Interesting, we’ll learn about how a few of our presidential families have influenced different types of events and customs during the December holiday season. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A&W is now serving Pret Organic Coffee, and you can get a $1 small coffee, a $2 small latte, or like me, a $1 small coffee and a $2 small latte. Available now until November 24th in Ontario only. Woo-hoo! Visa and OpenTable are dishing up something new. Get access to primetime dining reservations by adding your Visa Infinite Privilege card to your OpenTable account. From there, you'll unlock first-come, first-served spots at select top restaurants when booking through OpenTable. Learn more at OpenTable.ca forward slash Visa Dining. Hello, friends. Welcome. So glad you're here. And if you tuned into our Thanksgiving episode

a few weeks ago, you heard me share the origins of some pretty quirky White House tradition. So let's keep going. We'll learn about how a few of our presidential families have influenced different types of events and customs during the December holiday season. I'm Sharon McBann, and here's where it gets interesting. The author Louise Littleton Davis wrote the following little description. The greatest fun was yet to come. Throw a snowball and out popped a delightful piece of candy called a French Pop Kiss. After supper, the snowballs were distributed among the children. Armed with their share of snowballs, the children raced around the room,

pummeling guests with popping balls. When the snowballs hit their target, they exploded, and there was a wild scramble for the candy. While it sounds like a manufactured scene out of a cheesy Christmas movie, what Louise was actually describing in her book, Snowball Fight in the White House, was the epic children's party that, you guessed it, Alt Hickory himself, Andrew Jackson, threw for his nieces and nephews in December 1835 in the White House's East Room.

The snowballs were made out of cotton and the snowball fight followed one of the most elaborate holiday parties held in the White House. We've talked in previous episodes about how Andrew Jackson had a soft spot for children. And children have always played a

key role in influencing White House holiday fun. And the very first Christmas party ever held there three years before Jackson's snowball fight was given in honor of a young child when the White House was only partially completed. In the year 1800, President John Adams and First Lady Abigail Adams moved into the new home built specifically to house the nation's leader and family. Even though it was still under construction, enough of it had been completed that the Adamses were able to make it work. They had recently taken over the care of their four-year-old granddaughter Susanna after their son Charles died. And Abigail wanted to give her a magical Christmas season. She had invitations sent out to government officials that invited them, along with their children, to the first White House party at Christmastime.

A small orchestra played festive music in the new grand ballroom, which had been beautifully decorated with seasonal flowers and greenery. At the formal dinner, the Adamses had foods from their New England roots served to their guests, dishes like green turtle soup, a celebratory soup. It's said that they also chose to make their Independence Day meal back on July 4th, 1776. And gooseberry ful, which contains squished and chilled gooseberries folded into a sweetened yogurt sauce. After dinner, the families ate cake and sang Christmas carols together. The White House Historical Association tells a story that's relatable to parents everywhere. During the party, one of the young guests accidentally broke one of Susanna's new

toys. The president's granddaughter became so upset and overwhelmed that she bit the nose off one of the other children's dolls. The president himself put his diplomacy skills to use by stepping in to separate the children so the incident wouldn't escalate. Toy Carfafal aside, the grand holiday party was regarded as a success. It was a celebration that marked the end of John Adams's presidency, and while there are a handful of other recorded holiday parties throughout the early years in the White House, grand celebrations thrown at the scale of the Adams and Jackson presidencies were not the norm until Teddy Roosevelt stepped into office.

Teddy Roosevelt stepped into office. Teddy Roosevelt was not known to do anything on a small scale. And in 1903, he threw a massive Christmas carnival inside the White House, to which he invited 500 children. Imagine inviting 500 children to literally anything. Just the idea of inviting 500 children. Oh, it makes me laugh. I love children.

I do not want to invite 500 children to my house. There was, of course, there's music and dancing and a toy for literally every child in attendance and dinner and for dessert, the White House staff handed out Santa Claus shaped ice cream. The one thing missing from Teddy's massive Christmas carnival, a Christmas tree. The myth is that Teddy didn't allow holiday trees because he was a fervent conservationist who didn't want to chop down a tree just to put it inside for a few weeks. But the truth is that while he did oppose

destructive lumbering practices in general, he never actually banned Christmas trees. It just wasn't one of their family traditions to decorate an indoor tree. That is, until his eight-year-old son Archie stepped in. One Christmas morning, Archie surprised his parents by presenting them with a little Christmas tree. With the help of one of the White House carpenters, he rigged up the tree with little gifts and hid it in a maid's closet until Christmas morning. The gifts were trinkets for everyone in the Roosevelt family, including all of the Roosevelt pets.

Teddy Roosevelt said there were gifts for Jack the dog, Tom Quartz the kitten, and Algonquin the pony, whom Archie would no more think of neglecting than I would neglect his brothers and sisters. The tradition of a Christmas tree dates back to 8th century Germany. And when German settlers migrated to colonial America, they brought the custom of trimming a tree with them. It took a while for the tradition to catch on with other European settlers, though. In fact, in 1659, the Puritan-dominated Massachusetts Bay Colony created a law that made any observance of December 25th other than a church service a criminal offense. They fined settlers for hanging decorations, declaring it an act of paganism. It wasn't until the early 19th century that celebrating Christmas began to gain ground in America and decorated trees slowly began to seep into these celebrations. In 1850, Godey's lady book, the very one edited by the

champion of Thanksgiving, Sarah Hale, published an illustration of Queen Victoria with her husband, Prince Albert, and their children celebrating the holiday around a tree trimmed with candles and sugar ornaments dangling from its branches. The image had circulated in England two years earlier, and when Godey's printed it, they made a few changes. In an effort to make the royal family look more American, they removed Victoria's crown and Albert's sash and mustache. The consort Prince Albert, if you're not up on your historical royals, was German, and it was partially his influence that brought trees into the British limelight. He regularly sent decorated trees to schools and army barracks around the country to spread holiday cheer, and he and Victoria insisted on decorating their own Windsor Palace tree

themselves on Christmas Eve each year. Windsor Palace tree themselves on Christmas Eve each year. The royal family was well-liked, and the illustrations proved that what was fashionable in court was popular with the masses both in England and America. Over the next 50 years, Christmas trees evolved into a Christmas mainstay in the United States. Because the White House didn't have electricity until 1891, any tree decorated in the home would have used wax candles as lighting on the branches. But in 1894, Grover Cleveland, who was very fond of finding ways to show off his use of electricity, added electric bulbs to his family tree for the very first time. He chose the patriotic colors of red, white, and blue, which is on brand, of course, for the first

presidential tree decorated with electric lights. A few decades later, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt went all out in the White House at Christmastime, instructing that multiple rooms be decorated for the season, reading Charles Dickens a Christmas carol to his gathered family, and in an effort to embrace a nostalgia, returned to the decidedly riskier tradition of trimming his tree with wax candles. In his book, My 21 Years in the White House, Butler Alonzo Fields recalled that we were on edge all season, for FDR always braved the hazards of fire by having a Christmas tree lighted with candles in the East Hall. Alonzo and the other White House staff had good reason to be on edge. A few years earlier, on Christmas Eve in 1929,

as President Herbert Hoover threw a small children's party in the East Room, a fire broke out in his private office in the West Wing when a defective wire short-circuited and caught fire. No one was injured, but it was a night to remember. After being evacuated, guests stood on the White House lawn and watched as over 130 firefighters chopped away portions of the roof to access the fire and put it out. Obviously, the party was over for the evening. But Hoover invited those same children back the next year and gave them all a special gift. Toy fire engines that looked just like the ones that had come to the White House on the night of

the fire. You can actually purchase an ornament of the Engine 1 toy on the White House website, where it was the ornament of the year in 2016 in honor of the Hoover administration. I will link it for you in the show notes on my website. What do Ontario dairy farmers bring to the table? A million little things. But most of all, the passion and care that goes into producing the local, high-quality milk we all love and enjoy every day.

With 3,200 dairy farming families across Ontario sharing our love for milk, there's love in every glass. Dairy Farmers of Ontario. From our families to your table, everybody milk. Visit milk.org to learn more. This episode is brought to you by Dyson OnTrack. Dyson OnTrack headphones offer best-in-class noise cancellation and an enhanced sound range, making them perfect for enjoying music and podcasts. Get up to 55 hours of listening with active noise cancelling enabled, soft microfibre cushions engineered for comfort and a range of colours and

finishes. Dyson OnTrack. Headphones remastered. Buy from DysonCanada.ca. With ANC on, performance may vary based on environmental conditions and usage. Accessories sold separately. Interior Chinatown is an all-new series based on the best-selling novel by Charles Yu about a struggling Asian actor who gets a bigger part than he expected when he witnesses a crime in Chinatown. Streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter became the first president to commemorate the Jewish Festival of Lights.

There in Washington's Lafayette Park next to the White House, he inaugurated a long-awaited moment for every Jewish citizen as he flipped the switch to on. And electronic candles on a 30-foot menorah began the national celebration of Hanukkah in the United States. A decade later, President George H.W. Bush had an additional Hanukkah celebration inside the White House when he played dreidel and sang Hanukkah songs with a group of children. In addition to the national menorah outside, he prominently displayed one inside the White House after it was gifted to him by the Synagogue Council of America. When President Clinton was in office, they invited schoolchildren from D.C.'s only Jewish school to visit the White House for a Hanukkah celebration. One six-year-old student shifted her weight and dipped her head too close to the menorah,

where her ponytail caught on fire. President Clinton reacted quickly, put the fire out with his bare hands. Needless to say, his administration was more careful with the lighting of the Hanukkah candles during the rest of his presidency. Hanukkah candles during the rest of his presidency. And this year, 2022, when First Lady Dr. Jill Biden revealed her White House holiday theme of We the People, she presented a new official White House menorah alongside the official White House Christmas tree to, quote, teach us that even a little bit of light wherever it is found can dispel the darkness and illuminate a path forward. The Bidens had the menorah specially crafted with the wood that was saved from the White House renovation during Harry Truman's presidency in the 1950s.

The tradition of an official White House Christmas tree in the Blue Room was established in 1912 during the presidency of William Howard Taft. But it was First Lady Lou Hoover who became the first of the president's spouses to supervise the official tree's decoration in 1929. in 1929. Maybe Eisenhower took it to the next level and expanded the decorations to include multiple Christmas trees during her time as First Lady. For years, the Eisenhower administration held the record for the most trees in the White House at 26. A record that was blown out of the water in 1990 when barbara bush put 47 trees inside the house including the offices and bathrooms not to be outdone michelle obama broke barbara's record in 2015 by overseeing the placement of 62 trees. And the numbers have escalated from there. This year, there are 77 trees in the White House. And the decorations were put up by a group of 150 volunteers.

A testament to the We the People theme celebrated throughout the White House, or the People's House as it's sometimes called, because it represents home and belonging to all Americans. Former First Lady Hillary Clinton explained in 1999, You know, every year we choose a theme that we think tells us something about who we are as a people and really shows off the people's house to the very best it can be. We've talked about a few administrations that put up Christmas decor in the White House, but it was First Lady Jackie Kennedy who created the first

White House tree theme in 1961. She chose Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker and decorated the oval blue room tree with ornamental toys, birds, and angels that represented the ballet. The next year, she chose a children's themed tree and had it decorated with bright packages, candy, cakes, and gingerbread. Over the years, the holiday themes have included some obvious choices like santa's workshop the night before christmas and 12 days of christmas while others have been a little more liberal with their connection to the holiday like the time nancy reagan chose a theme of Mother Goose in 1986. At the bottom of the 18-foot White House tree sat

15 soft sculpture geese and other nursery rhyme characters. And when I say soft sculpture, what I mean are stuffed animals. Do you guys remember how geese were like the decorating theme of the 1980s? Maybe you don't.

Maybe you were born in 2000. Let me tell you, children, gather around. Back in the day, my favorite historic time period, geese were everywhere in people's homes. They were wooden. They were perched on top of cabinets they were stuffed they sat by your fireplace and they sat at the base of the white house christmas tree i mean that is peak 80s grandmas everywhere still have cloth geese wearing a shawl with a bonnet and glasses.

You know exactly what I'm talking about. If you are alive in the 80s, you know exactly what I'm talking about. After Jackie Kennedy introduced things as part of the White House's holiday traditions, it quickly became a high badge of honor to be the grower that provided the White House with the official Christmas tree. So in 1966, the National Christmas Tree Association was formed. Every year, they hold a national competition for the official

White House tree. And to qualify, growers must win a regional competition and then a state contest. It's like a beauty pageant for Christmas trees. Being named national grand champion, it is a major achievement for the growers. And the states themselves get a little competitive too. Right now, North Carolina leads with the highest number of trees sent to the White House at 12, followed by Pennsylvania with the second highest total. An 18 and a half foot fir tree from Pennsylvania is currently displayed in the White House's Blue Room. The tree in the Blue Room is usually between 18 and 20 feet tall. And so the room's extravagant chandelier is taken down to make room for the tree's height. I mean, if you think about the average U.S. residential Christmas tree being between six and eight feet tall, you get a sense of how big an 18 to 20 foot tree is. It's very large. The size of the tree, of course,

makes it look grandiose. First ladies often include some sustainability practices into their holiday decorating. Rosalind Carter's tree in 1977 was the perfect example. Her simple tree was trimmed with ornaments made from pine cones, peanuts, and eggshells. She and Jimmy Carter were known to live frugally, a practice they picked up by being raised by parents who raised young families during the Great Depression. Rosalind incorporated those lifelong habits of using what one has into her holiday decorating. First Lady Nancy Reagan was also known for her sustainable decorations. In 1983, she reused foil paper cones and metallic snowflakes

from a previous administration on her tree. But sadly, the Stopped Nursery Run characters did not make a reappearance. The following year, she had volunteers create 2,800 ornaments out of plants and natural materials. And the 1985 tree featured 1,500 ornaments made out of the Christmas cards the Reagans were sent the previous year. In 1923, electric companies lobbied President Calvin Coolidge to display more examples of electric light at the White House.

They wanted his help in advancing the idea that electricity was part of daily life. The White House already had numerous radios plugged into rooms and electric refrigerators humming in the kitchen, but homes across the country were still slow to follow suit. First Lady Grace Coolidge came up with an idea. They'd light up a massive outdoor Christmas tree on the Ellipse, the park just south of the White House. The 48-foot balsam fir tree was brought in from Coolidge's home state of Vermont, when the president and first lady held an official lighting ceremony. 3,000 people attended and watched as President Coolidge flipped the switch and 2,500 green, red, and white bulbs illuminated the tree. That had to actually be a really magical moment. If electricity was new to see a 48-foot tree lit up with 2,500 lights, it actually had to be like a whoa kind of moment for people. And the lighting of this national Christmas tree

quickly became an annual tradition. And in 1932, they added music to the tree using speakers hidden inside the branches. This was no iPhone playing a perfectly curated Spotify holiday playlist, no. Massive wires ran from speakers in the tree to a Victrola. And it was the job of the park police to change the record every hour. Imagine picking up that shift. What are you doing today?

Today, my job is to change the music on the Victrola every hour and double check the wires so that the 50-foot tree does not blow up in flames. But you know what? All jokes aside, the outdoor national Christmas tree has been used as a powerful symbol for the country throughout the years. When Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7th, 1941, it was just a few days before the planned lighting ceremony. President Roosevelt delayed the ceremony but insisted that the tradition should be carried on. but insisted that the tradition should be carried on. And in the three consecutive years during America's participation in World War II, the country decided that the national Christmas tree should remain unlit in support of the nighttime blackouts that were being practiced.

So in 1945, at the end of the war, President Truman resurrected the light of the ceremony, saying, this is the Christmas that a war-weary world has prayed for through long and awful years. With peace comes joy and gladness. The gloom of the war years fade as once more we light the national community Christmas tree. Fun fact, in 1973, it was decided that a tree should remain standing on the ellipse all year round for tourists to stop and visit. Unless, however, you were in DC in 2018. Even though the National Christmas Tree is close to the White House, it's actually not under the direction of the First Family, but the National Park Service. In December of 2018, a man loudly sang God Bless America while climbing his way up to the top of the 38-foot lit tree. It took a parks negotiator over an hour to convince him to come back down.

The tree itself sustained enough damage from the man's climb that it needed to be replaced, and the new one was not brought in until October of 2019. The National Christmas Tree has been replaced many times, but 2018 marked the first time it had to be swapped out because of a climbing Christmas caroler. So it hasn't just been the outdoor national Christmas tree that marked significant moments of history. The indoor White House Christmas tree was also used as a symbol of hope during a somber time for the nation. On December 22nd, 1963, President Lyndon Johnson and his wife Lady Bird ended the official mourning period after the death of President Kennedy by turning on the lights of the White House Christmas tree live on television. In the modern White House, media has helped connect us, the people, to the people's house.

Connect us, the people, to the people's house. Both Disney and HGTV have annual TV specials that highlight the White House holiday decorations and all the work that goes into creating them. News articles report on the theme of the year, and social media gives us pictures and videos of the holiday White House in real time. And on Christmas Eve back in 1941, President Roosevelt used the media to send a message to American citizens tuning in. He broadcast the two-week delayed National Tree Lighting Ceremony live on radio and TV because he had a special surprise guest with him. The president spoke words of encouragement to a

country who had just learned they were at war. And to the shock of everyone, he introduced his friend, Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain. FDR had asked Churchill to make the top secret trick for the ceremony and to speak hope to the nation that victory would lie ahead. Churchill addressed the American people. Here in the midst of war raging and roaring over all the lands and seas creeping nearer to our hearts and homes. Here amid all these tumults, we have tonight the peace of the spirit in each cottage home and in every generous heart. And from me to you,

I wish you all the peace your generous hearts deserve. Happy holidays, my friends. Thank you so much for listening to Here's Where It Gets Interesting. If you enjoyed this episode, would you consider sharing it on social media or leaving us a rating or review on your favorite podcast platform? All those things help podcasters out so much. The show is written and researched by executive producer Heather Jackson, Valerie Hoback, and Sharon McMahon. Our audio engineer is Jenny Snyder, and it's hosted by me, Sharon McMahon. We'll see you again soon. Thank you.