The annual White House Christmas ornament has been a tradition since 1981. They began appropriately with George Washington, the first president, and have featured past presidents as well as special events such as the 1989
bicentennial of the Presidency.
The 2009 White House Christmas Ornament commemorates the presidency of Grover Cleveland.
A view of the south lawn and the White House in a winter wonderland white Christmas is depicted on one side. There is a Christmas tree in the window and decorations can be seen inside. The flag is flying in a colorful evening sky.
The other side is a hologram which shows the Christmas tree inside the White House which was part of the Christmas parties and the Cleveland family Christmas. This was the first White House Christmas tree to have electric lights. The quote on this side of the ornaments says, “There will be a great Christmas Tree gorgeous in its beautiful trimming, all sorts and conditions of dolls and toys of every description.” The ornament is surrounded by a gold plated wreath of snowflakes painted ice blue and white, and comes in a lovely gift box, also decorated in winter blue and white.
Grover Cleveland is the only president to have two terms which were not consecutive, 1885-1889 and 1892-1897, and the only Democrat in the Republican years of 1860-1912. Cleveland married his young wife, Frances in the White House, and in 1893, their daughter Esther was the first child of a president to be born at the White House. They had one more daughter in 1895, and their Christmas celebrations were called a children’s festival centering on the three Cleveland daughters. They had two sons after the presidential term.
To order an ornament, at $16.95 plus shipping, call l-800-555-2451 or go on the website www.whitehousehistory.org. The White house Historical Association owns the copyright to the ornaments, but many businesses and charitable organizations also sell this popular holiday gift. Previous year’s ornaments are still available to fill in the collection, as it is a true collector’s item to give each year.
Comments
To have all of these since '81 would be a heckuva collection. Not sure I would have enough room on my tree!
This is interesting. Never knew about these.
I like pretty ornaments but not sure I would be willing to shell out the bucks for the complete collection. I also enjoyed the back story on the Cleveland presidencies and Christmas during his terms.
I hadn't heard of these either. What a lovely idea. Wouldn't an entire collection be spectacular? And it looks like you can still purchase the older ones. How neat!
Not a bad price, unless you want all 29!
Nice little synopsis on both the Alexander presidency and the presidential ornaments.
Something else I did not know. Thanks. I always learn something interesting from your articles.
You keep teaching me things that i never would have known about otherwise. Thanks!
Good info. Never too late to start collecting these ornaments.
Informative article summarizing this year's and others White House Christmas ornaments..good job.
Cheers
Ooh, these are lovely. I don't have a tree, and these would overwhelm our RV, but they are really quite spectacular.
As Marc says, I learn so much from following your stories.
This tree will look wonderful on the big White House Christmas tree. Thanks for all the interesting history lessons.
Thanks for all this great info.
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