First Lady Announces White House Holiday Theme: ‘Season of Peace and Light’

First Lady Jill Biden announced the 2024 White House holiday theme on Dec. 2, called “Season of Peace and Light.”

The White House hopes to invite roughly 100,000 visitors through the doors at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave during the festive weeks leading up to Christmas and New Year’s Day to “embrace the peace and light of the holiday season.”

The festivities were arranged with more than 300 volunteers from across the country decorating 83 Christmas trees throughout, including nearly 10,000 feet of ribbon, and more than 28,000 ornaments and 2,200 doves used this year to adorn the White House’s many halls and rooms.

Additionally, volunteers arranged more than 165,075 lights to decorate the trees, garlands, wreaths, and displays.

This year’s Gingerbread White House includes 25 sheets of gingerbread dough, 10 sheets of sugar cookie dough, 65 pounds of pastillage, 45 pounds of chocolate, 50 pounds of royal icing, and 10 pounds of gum paste.

Related Stories

11/30/2024

“It has been the honor of our lives to serve as your president and first lady. Our hope is for the nation to be blessed with the peace and light of the holiday season. We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.”

At a White House event later on Monday, Jill Biden will, for the last time, unveil the holiday and seasonal decor, including her holiday message to the country.

She will also thank the volunteers who traveled from coast to coast to help garnish the president’s residence this year.

The first lady also invited National Guard families to be among the first in the public to experience this year’s White House holiday decor as part of her Joining Forces initiative.

Many of the White House rooms have custom embellishments for the holiday season. In the East Wing, guests can walk underneath rotating starlight before seeing “lush greenery and garlands” adorning the East Wing Lobby.

The first Christmas tree seen on the White House tour is the Gold Star Tree, dedicated to Gold Star Families.

The 2024 Gold Star Tree exhibit is made from six oversized and stacked stars representing all six branches of the military.

Gold star ornaments on the four accompanying Christmas trees feature the names of fallen service members.

The East Colonnade will contain a collection of bells that symbolize the “peaceful sounds of the holiday season.” Volunteers suspended brass-colored bells from the ceiling and arranged sleigh bells to line the archways.

In the East Garden Room, visitors will encounter a three-dimensional horse-drawn sleigh that pulls a Christmas tree decorated with lights and bells.

The library contains a “forest of vintage ceramic Christmas trees” that are covered in twinkling multi-colored lights.

The Vermeil Room’s decor is devoted to floral displays crafted from various materials.

In the China Room, guests will find a baker’s bench with artisanal bread, “reminding guests of the peaceful, patient, and loving process of baking bread.”

The Diplomatic Reception Room, used for welcoming foreign dignitaries, will be open to the public for the first time, and decorated with holiday flowers and fruits.

Guests will also see a reflective canopy wrapping the ceiling and windows of the East Room, “surrounding [them] in a peaceful snowfall.”

The room’s center door will be flanked by two large Christmas trees, with their bases illuminated by silhouettes of Americans holding hands.

Some of the other rooms in the White House, including the Green Room, will be decorated with glass ornaments and prisms to reflect light throughout.

The Blue Room will showcase the official 2024 White House Christmas Tree, an 18.5-foot Fraser Fir from North Carolina, a state that saw catastrophic devastation this year from the impacts of Hurricane Helene after it made its way into the Appalachian mountains following its weakening into a tropical storm.

“The holidays have always held a special place in our hearts, and we’ve loved opening the doors of the People’s House wider and wider each year, continuing the spirit of goodwill and gratitude. America’s story is your story, and we hope you feel at home here,” the Bidens wrote in the statement.