How fun and festive is this . It is great to show the holidays with all of you. I am sure that all of you are wondering, what is tim gunn doing here . You will find out later, and it may surprise you. We have a lot of visual information for you. We have a lot of historical information. We have a preview of things to come. And it is going to be a very exciting night. So welcome. And we should get going with, we have our first slide, which is quite spectacular looking. And the white house looks fabulous, does it not . And this could not happen with how many volunteers are the . Depending on the year. A little over 100 this year. A lot of christmas elves. I feel like that there years where there were almost 300. They come from all it was swarming. It is a beehive. And your experience as chief usher, do you have to conduct the volunteers as well . I was very fortunate to have a young woman to work for me for a number of years. Her name was nancy clark and she was both right brain and left brain so she could put together computers from scratch and she could be an incredible designer. As she was the one that kind of orchestrated getting the volunteers together in association with the first ladies through the year and the first ladies families. There are normally about 100 to 150 people depending on the circumstances each year. They come from various walks of life. Most of them have some affiliation in one form or the other with florists or florist delivery. And it is a Wonderful Group of people. They are dedicated. What is not known is in addition to the three days it takes to decorate the white house, it happens in three days . It closes down on friday and usually happens on saturday, sunday and monday with the first event eating monday evening. Those volunteers that is a real deadline. Those volunteers come for a week in advance and work at a remote site. That is the National Park service site were all the decorations are held until they are needed. And then they work for that period of time putting the decorations together. Then they are labeled. They are marked where they go. And it is an anthill for a while. It is like a military event. It is so organized. You wish your house ran like this. And every volunteer knows exactly where they are going with a box, written with white decoration. You know firsthand because you are hosting a special on hgtv which will air on sunday, yes . We have a preview for all of it. To you want to set it up . It is being cut as we speak because we had to coleen and i just said, the day after thanksgiving. It is probably the quickest edited show. What were going to see its very fragmented. Consider a topsecret. Really cool and not bitmappy and weird. Lets see the clip. We promise there is a clip. Here it comes. Were staring this way because we have a monitor. Thank you for saying that. I did not realize we were all looking at it. [video clip] we are going to weave the frosted garland of the evergreen. Little pinecones. Then we are to hang some bows and some bells. You think it is done, and then there are 10 more layers. Thats one bit. Here is another. [video clip] [inaudible] its wonderful. Two. [video clip] so you can never it is really pretty pretty this particular shade which is vintage. Really elegant things, you know. I think that might be at. One more. [video clip] hi. [inaudible] there are 3200 total. This thing is stealing the show in the grand foyer. What is the plan of attack . Do we start from the bottom and go up or topdown . Topdown. Topdown. This is the overall plan and a nutshell. It is all about berries. [laughter] that was it . All right. [applause] i promise the show actually connects together. I do not how we got that feed, but consider it cool. The show is about the process. Most of the country is unaware this is something they can volunteer to do. I have been doing it for six years, and every year i go, the volunteers all approach me saying, this is how we found out that we can do this was watching the show. I am glad that we can be a part of bringing everyone into the party in celebrating this beautiful event that happens every year. And it is quite stunning. That is how i found out about. Coleen, your chosen to be the 2014 design partner. Nancy clark was kind enough to bring me in. I got hooked on the first ladies. I wanted to know all their styles. I ended up writing a book, christmas with the first ladies. To the point. And the amazing thing was that mrs. Obama invited me back. And this year they asked me to be the design partner. What does it involve . I got to keep the secret longer. I started working in march on the decorations. Got to hear what the first ladys initial ideas were going to be. And i got to see the process inside. And it was just amazing. And the outcome, as we all know, its just really beautiful. In fact, i see one of the gals who was on my team, susan, sitting in the audience. I remember you. You were in the clip. But we we had a great time. So this years theme is childrens winter wonderland. And just to see all of the elements come together and how many layers. Just all of the thought in the process that goes into it from the first lady down is amazing. One of the things in that third clip, the gentleman jim you are speaking to he has been there for 28 years. He runs a design school. And he also designs ornaments. And he comes every year and spends his time helping the first ladies with their designs for the white house. That is wonderful. Can we ask you, where do all of these trees come from . The trees are purchased from across the country. We found a gentleman up in pennsylvania who had a tree farm. The National ChristmasTree Growers Association holds a biannual meeting. And it was actually at that meeting that they choose both this years winner and the next years winner. And they are, by the Christmas Tree growers association, given the honor of presenting the blue room tree to the white house. This started in the Johnson Administration. In association with the National Christmas tree association. They also provide a tree at their giving desire for the first family for their own personal tree on the second floor of the residence. We also have this gentleman who grew up in pennsylvania who is growing trees. He and his father planted their first batch of Christmas Trees in the late 1930s. And he called this one field they had literally abandoned a number of years ago the white house field. Because the white house wanted trees that were 18 feet, six inches. That is the floor to ceiling measurement in the blue room of the white house. And we cannot find Christmas Tree growers because Christmas Tree growers grow trees for your home. How many people have 18 foot ceilings . The top whirl of the tree is tied up on the chandelier so the tree will not fall over. And the bottom has a very substantial stand that holds it in place and allows us to water the tree. The tree is not cut into very late in the season. Usually in late november. And it allows them to come to the white house and be very fresh. How do you water it . With a very long hose. It is a garden hose that is about eight foot long. The gardener at the white house has been there for 50 years. Devised the system that the hose he had a tank they held up in the air. In a very long hose that allowed us to go into the container that contain 15 to 20 gallons of water. And his mantra as far as the preserving the Christmas Tree was, do not put any additives in the water. A little clorox to keep the germs down. And extremely hot water. Because that keeps the capillaries of the tree open. So now you know how to preserve your tree. The white house tree goes up the first week of december and stays up to new years. And there are some times as 3000 ordinance on the tree. And they have to support that weight. As im sure others can it testify, quite frequently the limbs are held together by wires, all the way to the top. You have that hole in your tree . They zip tie the lower pressure the upper branch. All the trees are perfect. You can do this. What i would point out is the scaffolding. How many look at this and are terrified . How many of us have been honest on . Linda, they never made you get on the scaffolding . Never let me. Secret is out. Would you stay at the bottom and supervise . There were a group of people that were dedicated as supervisors because they all had specific jobs. The people standing around the bottom would get the ornaments that are supposed to go on the tree at various levels and they would put them in little baskets. Then the person on top would pull the basket up. And put the ornaments on because now that we have so many ornaments that are given by volunteers from around the country, when they come to the white house, they want to know where their ornament is. So we devised a system where we put ribbons on the tree, on each corner, north south, east and west, and we kept track of every five feet so that we could tell mr. Smith when he came or mrs. Jones your ornament is in the west side of the tree, 1 3 of the way down. It is up to you to find exactly where it is. We give you a general area. That degree of detail is remarkable. Really remarkable. Lets go back. This is 1896 and 1902. We are looking at the Grover ClevelandChristmas Tree in the yellow oval room. Linda, that is the second floor . Second floor. So not on the main level. Right above the blue room. Here we see Teddy Roosevelts son archie, he actually smuggled a small tree into the white house and hide it in a closet in the upstairs sewing room. Why . Because his father was a staunch conservative, and at that time they did not grow trees as a crop. They grew trees in the woods and people went out and saw them and cut trees and brought them home. The president being a staunch conservative, he decided he did not want a tree in the house because that did not fit his thinking on cutting down trees. He sounds like a grump. Ba humbug. He made great parks. So here we have Franklin Roosevelt and his family. And more of the Roosevelt White house at christmas time. That is the east room . Yep. It looks like about heavy tree a bottom heavy tree. They look like heavy chandeliers. Very much so. And the Eisenhower White house. And we see a lot of tinsel. Wow. It looks tinsel heavy. That was pretheme. [laughter] the theme is tinsel. That was the theme, they did a great job of it. Then we get to the Kennedy White house, and things change here. Coleen and gary, can you talk about what happened at that time . Mrs. Kennedy was the first first lady who said, we should have a theme. I guess if youre going to have 100,000 people over for the holidays, you should have a theme. They should be unified and the very first theme was the nutcracker. It was a nutcracker christmas. I believe that his crate paper on the tree. I looked at it. It was crepe paper. I think it was supposed to be ribbon. It is more affordable. Can you tell us about the creche we see on the right . Do you want to take it . Mrs. Kennedy decided she wanted to have a creche. Was that a first . The families had private this was on the state floor. She borrowed one to be on display at the white house. That started the tradition of the creche on display to remind people that the white house is a home. Very nice. More of the nutcracker ornaments. And caroline. You have to know how precious she looks. And the nutcracker legacy was picked up again by the bushes in 1990. I think those are a little scary. Im just saying. Horrifying. They do not have eyes. We rounded the slides earlier, and the incredibly skillful individual who pulled these images said, she was being kind. This is actually a nice picture compared to the way some of the others. They were rather terrifying. You were there. What it was is we bought the faces. They are just faces. Blank porcelain faces, and the decorators, the white house florists and people from around the country actually put the different dolls together. They wanted to paint the mustaches to replicate european soldiers at the time. And they were throughout the house. Those were on the tree in the blue room. We had a vignette on each one of the tables in the mantle pieces throughout the house that replicated the nutcracker, different scenes. But those were all built specifically, all the dolls were built at the white house by the florists. I do not know whether that makes it better or worse. [laughter] and then in 1996, president and mrs. Clinton bring back the nutcracker theme again. And the amazing thing there was chelsea was dancing in the nutcracker the year they chose that as the theme. This looks more cheerful. Evolved. And now, linda, this is your territory. Here we are. Oh, absolutely. First, you have to recognize that we didnt decorate the house until december 22. Because, of course, for a month you mourn the president. All over the white house, we had all this black crepe over the mirrors, over everything. Then on december 22, which happens to be my mothers birthday, they tore up the crepe, and started putting everything together. And for our year, my father was very fiscally conservative. He said we would use the same decorations every year. And so, they were like your home might be. They were oldtime, things that everybody could have, popcorn, and cranberries. After the first year we learned that cranberries should not be on a living tree. What happened . They cannot take 30 days. Dry. So, after that, we had to have fake berries. But we have popcorn on a string. And that is i have to turn around. We are wondering who strung all of that. Oh. Did you participate . No. No. 50 years ago is so long that i do not remember that, but if you got the archives bulletin, you will see that little baby lucinda, stand up. [applause] lucinda was almost two months old. Im going to fastforward. We have oh, to have another time . Lets fastforward. Here we go. But you can see a little more. This one has lucindas First Cousins son. And then one of my First Cousins children. We really did not spend every christmas at the white house. The only christmas we really spent there was our last christmas. Every year we would have two particular special parties. One was for the embassy children. And they would come in custom i should not say costumes what they wore in their country. For us, it looked like costumes. Then we would have a party for i do not know if they were orphaned children, but they were particular home. And the children would come. And we would sit at little bitty tables and they would all have a christmas soda or whatever. That was very special. That is what the second picture. Im in the picture with daddy, but you cannot see me only half of me. Im wearing that pink outfit. But you can see the children loving the tree. And you had cookies within reach. Yes. These were all ornaments, these are the ornaments, some of the ornaments over here. I do not know if any of you can see them. You can come up afterwards and take a closer look. They were very simple. One said, we ones we could have on our tree. And that was our theme everybodys christmas. Im going to read you a piece that in december 22 of 1968, my father wrote this note to my mother. To Claudia Taylor johnson her her whole name. My dearest, upon your return to the white house, arrangements will be made to pay for the Christmas Tree decorations of you will enjoy them in years ahead. Here is another birthday present i have told you i have been told you will enjoy. With all my love. And daddy, his next to last year, now, can we go back to the wedding . Actually that is forward. We will get to it in a minute. Chuck and i were married. Chuck chuck, stand up. [laughter] [applause] chuck and i were married 47 and two days ago. Bravo. We had the most beautiful decorations. And again, this is the way to save money. You just recycle them. You do them for the wedding and then you just keep on doing it. So, that year, talk about trouble can you imagine . We had wonderful, gorgeous trees made out of poinsettias. And they were all around. And then we got married on the ninth. And immediately, the next day, they now we can start on christmas. On the 10th of december. The beautiful creche, which was given by the inglehearts, was right where we got married in the east room. It did not get to go up until we got out. But you will see a picture of that. Neapolitan creche. It was a gift to the white house. And every year they put it up. I have been back probably four i dont know for many of the first years, i would go back and take a picture of it with my children or whoever was available. And send the picture to mrs. Inglehart to let them know it was really still there and loved and everything. It was a very special time. We got married. And then they had to start doing the decorations. You can imagine, we received our guests in the blue room. You cannot have that big tree in the blue room. So they had to do all of that starting on the 10th of december. I do not know how they did it. Then we went off on her on our honeymoon. And my father went around the world, was the first president to go around the world. And he took off and went to the funeral of the Prime Minister of australia, went around to vietnam to see our troops. Flew in to vatican city to see the pope. He did the full world, and then came back on christmas eve. And that was really wonderful. And we came back from the honeymoon, so we could all be together for that christmas. Thats when you see these pictures of lucinda and me. And it was wonderful. And then all of the sitting upstairs in the family quarters. Here we go. Was that your family christmas picture you guys would take every year . We always did have to do a family horror show picture. I do not know about yall, but it is one of the least fun things we do. Everybody smiling. The two lyndons both smiling. We have a twomonthold baby. We have a dog. Very active. Trying to get everybody. But that is upstairs in the family quarters, and that is the tree there, which was wonderful. And lucinda insisted i bring this. Yes. You notice . Linda bird on it . Everybody. Very special bag. Now, this is where i wish we had a picture. I do not think you have a picture of the upstairs other than this one. But we hung up stockings. And this year had stockings, special stockings made. Which then that is elaborate. Every year. They were all. Mine. And this is the university of texas where i went to school. Mystic, my camp. Mccalls magazine. There i am on the front cover. I wo