You think your holiday season is hectic? For the hardworking staff that serves the president and his family, holidays at the White House mean long hours of advance planning and months of behind-the-scenes preparation, culminating with spectacular results that the first family and 100,000 visitors get to enjoy at parties, receptions, public tours and open houses.

In the White House’s earliest days, the residential staff decked rooms with cedar and holly, cooked feasts with cakes and punch, and built fires against the winter cold. Their modern heirs plan and pull off lavish, intricately planned holiday festivals with world-class decorative arts, confections, flowers and lighting.

The work often begins as soon as February, when design ideas are presented to the first lady for consideration. These decisions will influence thousands of decorations and ornaments found on the White House Christmas tree in the Blue Room and every surrounding public room.

Jacqueline Kennedy was the first first lady to organize Christmas decorations around a theme, choosing the "Nutcracker Suite" in 1961.

Other first ladies have highlighted early Americana, handmade crafts, Victorian toys, needlepoint, children’s nursery rhymes and books, service members and American treasures.

Laura Bush’s 2002 “All Creatures Great and Small” theme featured papier-mâché replicas of presidential pets, including Abraham Lincoln’s pet goats, Woodrow Wilson’s tobacco-chewing ram, Theodore Roosevelt’s family macaw and Caroline Kennedy’s pony Macaroni.

Christmas and Hanukkah celebration:The evolution of holidays at the White House

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