Page 6 - Christmas at the Nixon Library

From Pat Nixon: The Untold Story

By Julie Nixon Eisenhower

“Mother had exuberantly overseen the decoration of the mansion, and the

calendar was full with parties for Congress, the Cabinet, the diplomatic corps,

the White House staff, the volunteers who helped with both my parents’

correspondence, the Secret Service, and friends and family. Large evergreen

wreaths, each laden with red berries and pinecones, and with a red candle in

the center, were hung in the sixteen windows facing Pennsylvania Avenue. Red

candles or bulbs were placed in the chandeliers; a nineteen-foot tree stood in

the Blue Room (workmen had to take down the chandelier to fit it in the room);

and a nearly irresistible-to-the-touch gingerbread house was in the State Dining

Room. In the East Room, seven-foot-high poinsettia ‘trees’ were created by

mounting seventy-five or more plants on pyramid-shaped scaffolds. Upstairs,

Mother, Tricia and I had fun putting the finishing touches on our family tree. We

hung the special ornaments we had had for years, including a lopsided paper

Christmas tree Tricia had made in kindergarten.”