A Visit to the White House and a New Dress

When we did the Tweed Ride, my friend Courtney mentioned that she was thinking of planning a White House holiday tour and asked if I'd like to join. I said of course, and asked her who her friend is. To see the White House (at least for people who live here--I don't know how out-of-towners do it) you have to have a friend who works there and can get you in. It turns out that her job is considered part of the White House and she *is* the friend. How wonderful! So yesterday morning we headed over to see the White House all dressed up for the holidays.

The decorations were somewhat modest for, well, the White House--a mansion of size and importance--in keeping with the economic times, but they were all clever, festive, and still tasteful. I just LOVED these felt trees in the entrance area. I don't decorate for the holidays because I'm not religious and because I always travel to Texas, but I could actually see having one of these adorable little trees. And check out the giant felt Bo!



Bo was quite a decorative theme. There was a Bo in just about every room/display. My absolute favorite was this Bo made of buttons! Could you die? It was just so clever and absolutely adorable. This wasn't the only place that buttons showed up. I glanced down at the tree skirt of the large family tree (decorated by the children of active duty service members) and noticed that the tree skirt was sprinkled with what appeared to be antique and vintage military buttons. Clearly, one of the decorators knows a little something about sewing.



The annual Gingerbread White House is always a big attraction. It keeps getting more and more elaborate and amazing and this year was no exception in this perfect replica of the White House in white chocolate. Apparently, it took six weeks to make. It was surrounded by macaron trees. I think white chocolate is gross so I'm ok with many pounds of it being used to make a decorative objects, but I had to object to wasting perfectly good macarons--very difficult to come by in the States--on decoration! Though the trees were cute.


Of course I had to have a new dress for my visit! I bought this giant border print fabric on G Street's $2.97/yd table last November and thought the red flowers would be holiday-evocative without being too literal. I made it into another McCall 6363 knockoff, as described in this blog post. I didn't make any changes to the pattern--even did the same picot elastic trim on the neckline! I'll try to get a better picture of it later but there's really nothing new to tell about it. All photos of McCall 6363 are here






Again in keeping with the festive spirit--and the quite cold weather--I wore my Vogue 8307 Armani-style coat. It's just about getting too cold to wear this, but I love the cheery color and the shape of the collar so I've been wearing it as much as possible until it gets well and truly below freezing.




Here's my parting shot as we walked out of the White House and back to real life. I love the way the clean lines of the White House, the Washington Monument in the distance, and the colors of the flag converge. It was quite a different feeling to be on the inside of the White House grounds looking out, and not one I'll repeat too often LOL.

With all the real trees in the White House, and the wonderful decorations, and the high school choir singing wonderful a capella carols, this is a magical way to get in the holiday spirit!

All the White House photos are here.