Write the name of the places that the First Lady shows to Oprah in the White House.
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The First Lady tells the tradtion of each place to Oprah. Fill in the form with the information she gives.
Name of the Place Tradition New Changes Take notes of what you hear about the Chirstmas tree, then try to describe it with the help of your notes.
Key
the East Colonnade, the State Dining Room, the Red Room, the Blue Room
the East Colonnade
Tradtion: Usually there are just regular older photos inthese frames.
New Changes: But now we put Christmas photos, of all theChristmas’s past about the administrations.
the State Dining Room
Tradition: The gingerbread house tradition started in 1969 with the Nixons’. Their small candy house didn’t get much attention, but over the years, the first family’s gingerbread house has become the main attractionin the state dining room. Each presidential family has also added their own personal touch: a mailbox with Amy Carter’s name on it, a path made out of jelly beans as a nod to President Reagan’s favorite candy, and Millie the dog made out of marzipan for First Lady Barbara Bush.
New Changes: This gingerbread house took us six weeks tobuild. It weighs approximately 390 pounds, 140 pounds of that is the gingerbread which is the foundation inside, and then another 250 pounds of whitechocolate on the outside. This year we’ve used the Mrs. Obama’s vegetable garden as the thematic part of the gingerbread house, and sitting outside ofthis year’s house, there’s that handsome Bo.
the Red Room:
Tradition: The tradition is that this room has generally been decorated in some way with cranberries. We maintain that with this particular decoration.
the Blue Room:
Tradition: In true White House tradition, the blue roomtree arrives at the nation's capital in grand style. It takes an army andNational Park Service workers to get this gigantic tree through the front doorand put up in its historic spot. Then the decorating begins.
New Changes: We did something new here as well. We want totry to get as many people across the country to participate in our Christmashere. So, we took ornaments from past administrations. We, we had about 800 ofthem. We sent them around the country to nonprofit organizations and the like,and ask them to decorate them. We asked them to do some kind of a landmark fromtheir town or their community.
The magnificent national Christmas tree stands eighteen and a half feet tall in the historic oval-shape blue room. WestVirginia Christmas tree farmers Gloria and Eric Sundback spent 15 years growing this award-winning Douglas fir. In true White House tradition, the blue room tree arrives at the nation's capital in grand style. It takes an army and National Park Service workers to get this gigantic tree through the front doorand put up in its historic spot. Then the decorating begins. Nearly 100 volunteers, just regular folks from coast to coast descend on America’s house. 650 undecorated ornaments are hungon this massive tree: 129 ribs nearly 3000 yards of ribbon and hundreds of thousands of lights are carefully placed. And after five days, the White Houseis officially spruced up and ready for the holidays.
