White House unveils Christmas decorations WITHOUT stockings for grandchildren after Biden acknowledged Hunter’s daughter: Holiday display includes Commander, a gingerbread 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and lots of candy
This year’s White House Christmas decorations were inspired by the children’s wonder of the holidays, but there was one crucial piece missing: the stockings by the fireplace.
Over the past two years, Joe and Jill Biden have hung six stockings on the State Dining Room mantel — one for each of their grandchildren, with the exception of five-year-old Navy, the illegitimate daughter of Hunter Biden and Lunden Roberts.
The mantelpiece is decorated with ribbons and ornaments this year, even after the Bidens, in a wonderful turnaround in Julyfinally acknowledged their seventh grandchild after Hunter completed another round of child support hearings Arkansas.
There is no mention of the Biden grandchildren. Instead, there are tributes to White House pets: Willow and Commander, the German shepherd banished from the White House after biting Secret Service agents. Along with candy, toy soldiers, ballerinas and tributes to military families.
The fireplace in the White House State Dining Room had no stockings like it used to
Candy-themed ornaments hang at the entrance
Decorated statues of the First Family’s pets, Commander the dog and Willow the cat, are on display in the East Wing
Guests walk into the White House under greenery, ornaments and lighting
The Gingerbread White House
The White House staff also used overhead spaces and oversized furnishings to bring out the child in everyone.
It starts at the entrance, where guests walk in under the branches of a Christmas tree with lights, decorations and candy canes in the branches above.
And it runs through the house to the state floor, where Santa and his eight reindeer hang from the ceiling at the entrance.
“It is this childlike wonder and awe that inspired this year’s holiday theme: the ‘Magic, Wonder and Joy’ of the season,” Jill Biden will say later Monday, according to a copy of her remarks released by the East Wing.
The Bidens saw the decorations Sunday evening after returning from their annual Thanksgiving vacation in Nantucket with six of their seven grandchildren.
In the past, the Bidens have always included their six other grandchildren — Hunter’s three daughters Naomi, Finnegan and Maisy with his first wife Kathleen and his son Beau with his current wife Melissa Cohen and the late Beau Biden’s children Natalie and Little Hunter — in their holiday decor .
Navy Roberts was always conspicuously missing.
Santa Claus and his sleigh fly through the entrance hall on the state floor
The official White House Christmas tree is in the Blue Room
There is a Christmas tree on top of the entrance to the White House
The Cross Room of the White House
The East Room has an Advent calendar
The first couple is close to their family and faced months of questions about why they never acknowledged Navy, whose mother filed a paternity suit against Hunter in 2019.
The Bidens did recognize her in July. “Jill and I want only the best for all of our grandchildren, including the Navy,” President Biden said in a statement at the time.
Five-year-old Navy Roberts
It’s unclear whether the Bidens have met the Marines in person, but her mother, Lunden Roberts, told DailyMail.com earlier this month, “Navy Joan is so proud of Hunter, not because he’s a Biden, but because he’s her father .’
And First Lady Jill Biden was thinking of children as she unveiled this year’s annual holiday decorations, which included 98 Christmas trees, 4,500 yards of ribbon and 22,100 bells.
There will also be a tribute to military families and, in honor of the 200th anniversary, a display of several copies of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ through the years.
“Each room on display is designed to capture the pure, unfiltered joy and imagination of childhood, to see this time of year through the wonderful, sparkling eyes of children,” Jill Biden will say.
The White House expects to welcome about 100,000 visitors during the holidays, the East Wing said.
It took 300 volunteers six days to create the decoration: three days in warehouses assembling the decorations and then on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the White House to put everything in place.
The White House will hold approximately 24 holiday receptions, the first of which will take place Monday. The last one is December 22. The annual Congress Ball is on Monday, December 4. Other guests include supporters, donors, employees and members of the media.
While the guests and visitors make their way through On the ground floor and the state rooms above, they see a variety of decorations related to the theme.
The awe and wonder begin at the entrance, where guests walk under overhanging lights, cookies, lollipops and candy canes.
The White House library was transformed into a children’s room, including a bed with books stacked around it. The Vermeil Hall was transformed into a theater with dancing nutcrackers.
The China Room was converted into a kitchen where sweet treats were baked.
The East Room contains advent calendars counting down the days until Christmas and behind each number lies a special surprise that will be revealed as the holidays continue.
The Blue Room contains the official White House Christmas tree – an 18-foot Fraser Fir from Fleetwood, North Carolina.
This year’s tree is decorated with scenes, landscapes and neighborhoods from across the country, with names of each state, territory and the District of Columbia.
Around the base of the tree rides a replica of a vintage passenger train, on loan from the Train Collectors Association.
The Red Room pays tribute to Jill Biden’s support of military families and her Joining Forces Initiative. The ornaments are made from the handprints and painted family portraits of children associated with the military.
The first lady kept up the tradition — dating back to 1975 — of having fresh cranberries as part of the decor, but this year the berries will be woven through handmade popcorn streamers.
The state dining room was transformed into Santa’s workshop with elf workbenches, stools and ladders around the Christmas trees.
Life-size nutcrackers and ballerinas abound in the room.
It also contains the Gingerbread White House. This year’s version includes a tribute to Twas the Night Before Christmas with a sugar cookie replica of the famous book.
The columns on the colonnade were decorated with red peppermint stripes and red peppermint Christmas candies form the wreaths in the windows.
The traditional – and recognizable – Christmas candy plays a major role in the decor. The candy was used to make a large wreath at the entrance near the Gold Star tree honoring military families.
And bowls of it are placed around the White House.
Hunter Biden with wife Melissa Cohen and son Baby Beau this past week in Nantucket for the Biden family’s annual Thanksgiving holiday
For the past two years, the Bidens have hung up stockings at the White House for six of their seven grandchildren named — but not Navy
Jill Biden will make it clear that her goal for visitors when they see the White House is childlike wonder.
“It is in these times, when we are looking for hope and healing, that we need those points of light the most, that we need each other the most,” she will say.
“I hope that in these times you remember, even if just for a moment or for a while, how you viewed the world as a child.”
‘Because children can teach us something, if we are wise enough to listen. How to stay present even when a busy world beckons. How we can open ourselves to love and wonder. How you can be amazed at every moment, no matter how ordinary.’