It’s the Monday after Thanksgiving, and one is reminded of the immortal words of Melania Trump: “I’m working my ass off at Christmas stuff…Who gives a fuck about Christmas stuff and decorations?” It was the realest thing the woman said in the four years as FLOTUS, and no wonder it sounded real. She was talking to her then friend who happened to be recording her. But to Trump’s credit, who couldn’t relate in at least a small way to the sentiment? The holidays are suddenly upon us, and we all have to dive headfirst into the cheer and merriment and snowy aesthetic. This is all well and good if you’re naturally up, up, up all the time. But if you’re a little down, then all the expectations around the last month of the year can really feel like insurmountable pressure. And it got to Melania Trump.
You know who one gets the sense doesn’t mind she has to work her ass off for Christmas, though? You know who you suspect the whole decorations and events and parties absolutely doesn’t bother? Jill Biden. Today, the first lady revealed her own take on the tradition, and it looks a lot like her.
The specter of decorations past linger in the mind’s eye. Remember the menacing hall of red trees? It turns out a room will look like a blood-drenched horror scene if you don’t break up the color red. Remember the shadows from white branches that too easily resembled a nightmare? The clean minimalism has given way to homier decor befitting a schoolteacher. Tree are decorated with photos of Biden’s family. Flowers and butterflies are the main moments of departure from the more traditional design.
And remember a woman dourly watching ballerinas perform? Now the first lady reads a book, one inspired by her late stepson, Beau, about God blessing the troops to children. The theme is “gifts from the heart” which is nice and roomy, uninhibited by too much specificity. In it are “things that unite and heal, and bring us together,” according to the Wast Wing. There are enormous red gift boxes surrounding an entrance, doves on a tree, ribbons that read “kindness” and “hope,” a little replica of Camp David, the official country residence of presidents. Biden thanked 100 volunteers from D.C. who helped put it together. And though thanks to the pandemic, the White House can’t host visitors yet, the whole thing exudes comfort food for a certain America, and a FLOTUS deeply in her element.
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