First Lady Melania Trump is recruiting volunteers to decorate White House, entertain guests during Christmas
Christmas is the time to spread love and the White House has already started preparing for the holidays. Recently, the White House announced that First Lady Melania Trump and her husband President Donald Trump are “opening up the People’s House to the public for traditional Christmas decorating.”
The last date to apply for a decorator's position is September 3 and the entertainers have the option of submitting their application until September 17. Through the month of December, selected “high school bands, choirs, and Christmas-themed entertainers” will have the opportunity to entertain guests who arrive at Holiday Open Houses.
Selected volunteers will receive an email confirmation by October 1, 2018. The White House further notes that "volunteers will not receive any compensation for volunteer services and will not be considered federal employees for any purpose other than tort claims and injury compensation." Those who apply will have to undergo a reference check, background investigation, and/or criminal history inquiry in order to provide volunteer services.
FLOTUS’ Press Secretary and Communications Director Stephanie Grishman told USA Today that the recruitment of volunteers for the festival is not new. Last year, over 25,000 visitors toured the White House through the holiday season and 150 volunteers came together to decorate the White House.
It took them 1,600 hours to put the decorations together, including the 71 wreaths, 53 Christmas trees, and more than 18,000 lights, as reported by Fox News. Last year, "Time-Honored Traditions" was the theme of Christmas and it was revealed in November and the first lady selected every detail of the décor. While the first lady and the volunteers put a lot of their effort into decorating the White House, many people thought that last year's decoration gave them a spooky feeling.
Before they even knew it, the theme chosen for Christmas soon became a meme on the internet. People were quick to comment on how the decorations did not give the merry feeling that they hoped it would. "Are Christmas decorations supposed to give you creeping anxiety and a feeling of lingering dread?" one user wrote on Twitter. Another added, "This year's theme: A Blair Witch Christmas."
Others believed that the decorations were unable to express the feeling of Christmas. "Well, I like really stark, spare things, and so I actually like what Melania did there as art, but *not as Christmas decoration*. It looks more like a promenade in a commercial setting; it lacks the warmth of a home," read one comment. Meanwhile, another added, "It's sort of metaphoric, that long, foreboding tunnel of darkness swallowing us up." Let's just hope that, this time around, things are going to be different.