Front View of the Ornament
The 2011 White House Christmas Ornament
reflects the excitement that President Roosevelt, his wife Edith, and their lively young family brought to life at the White House. There had been no children living in the White House in the years since the departure of President Grover Cleveland and his family in March 1897. But with the arrival of the Roosevelts, six children would call the White House “home”: Alice (17, TR’s daughter by his first marriage); Theodore Jr. (14); Kermit (12); Ethel (10); Archibald (7); and Quentin (4). The front face of the ornament is a color illustration derived from a political cartoon drawn by William A. Rogers in 1901. Capturing the anticipation associated with the family’s first White House Christmas, a jolly Santa Claus crosses the snow covered North Lawn carrying a large bag of toys over his shoulder and announces, “I hear that there are some kids in the White House this year.”
The reverse side of the 2011 ornament features a second period illustration that captures the moment in 1903 when young Archie reveals to his family a Christmas tree he had hidden in a seamstress’s closet in the White House. The tree defied the president’s ban, and its discovery became a popular Christmas story that ran in The Ladies Home Journal underscoring the president’s conservation ethic.
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