Inspired by the acts of kindness and experiences that lifted our spirits this year, decorated rooms in the White House reflect the Gifts from the Heart that unite us all: faith, family, friendship, the arts, learning, nature, gratitude, service, community, peace, and unity. pic.twitter.com/fsaYFthIqH
— Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) November 29, 2021
… for small mercies. Our Fios connection has been down all day, and this was a nice update to come back to!
It's so far down on the list of things that matter but this reversion to normal after four years of Doctor Who Nightmare Xmas is jarring. https://t.co/eCiU3RkysO pic.twitter.com/F9rr3RI7F6
— zeddy (@Zeddary) November 29, 2021
Join me in thanking the over 100 volunteers from the local area who helped decorate the White House for the holiday season! As we look to a new year full of possibility, may gifts from the heart light our path forward. https://t.co/aKBA9IHX9S
— Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) November 29, 2021
dmsilev
A Very Pan’s Labyrinth Christmas was special and memorable, that’s for sure.
ruemara
Nice to have a real human in the White House again.
dr. bloor
Call me old-fashioned, but I miss the part of the Third Lady’s motif when Sissy Spacek comes down the chimney and starts bleeding out of every pore on her body.
debbie
I’d love to see side-by-side photos of the decorated rooms, just to see how much better this year’s decorations are, especially that hallway.
NotMax
Something upstairs ain’t right with the man.
schrodingers_cat
What were those red trees supposed to signify anyway?
dmsilev
@NotMax: Did you not know that the DNC runs the public health agencies in South Africa and Botswana?
JoyceH
The Post has an article about the White House Christmas decorations and for the first time in four years I could read it without getting angry or depressed. It’s nice to be able to enjoy the White House fluff stories again – what the First Lady wore to the Kennedy Center, stuff like that.
Ken
@schrodingers_cat: Loyalty to the GRU?
satby
@schrodingers_cat: the rage in their souls
dmsilev
@schrodingers_cat: I’m sure some staffer came up with something, but the real message is the same as the one on her infamous jacket: ‘I don’t care, do you?’.
Spanky
@schrodingers_cat: Forced to celebrate a Season of Cheer that she loathed, the Grinch fought to spoil it in whatever limited way she could.
mrmoshpotato
@dr. bloor: LOL!
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodingers_cat:
This article takes a stab at analysing what the red trees did to us, and what the Third Lady’s office said they were supposed to signify:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/28/melania-trump-red-christmas-trees-white-house-decorations
mrmoshpotato
@schrodingers_cat:
The blood of children?
The creepy hallway definitely represented the black holes where their souls should be.
Jay
Got my booster shot today, so Moderna, Pfizer, Pfizer.
same issue as the first shot.
I get to jump the queue, because my Wife is Metis, and we live together.
I had to pull up the MOH confirmation to jump through the hoops, because, despite being front facing, old, an expendable worker, I get to jump ahead by a month through a “loophole”.
on the down side, the Vax sites still have a lot of people unaware of the nuances,
on the bright side, apparently that means that a bunch, or enough, people are trying still, to get vaxxed, ahead of the queue.
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
Well, that’s a mighty ridiculous explanation.
NotMax
@schrodingers_cat
The eternal flames of burning love between a devoted wife and a loyal husb–
Never mind.
mrmoshpotato
@debbie: Those brave trees! ?
Ascap_scab
@schrodingers_cat: I’m pretty sure they were a paean to Pooty-Poot. Replace the star with a Hammer and Sickle and you’re all set.
Villago Delenda Est
ZOMG, the White House looks like Christmas, not the set of some terrible Star Wars knockoff. The crassest FLOTUS in history, a mail-order trophy wife, is gone, replaced by a normal person.
Villago Delenda Est
@Ken: And we have a winner! Where would you like your Intertubes delivered?
Raven
@Jay: you got the Medal of Honor?
Gin & Tonic
My WaPo digital subscription was expiring (yes, I pay them money.) I got an e-mail to renew, for $150 for the next year. I decided to cancel and see what they offer, so I went into my profile, found the “cancel my subscription” link, clicked on it and got a selection of radio buttons about my reason for canceling. I chose “too expensive”, so then they said, well, how about $9.95 for the year, is that OK? I said sure.
Ken
@Gin & Tonic:
“Amazing! How can you charge so little for an entire year of reporting?”
“Ah, well, about that word ‘reporting’….”
Mike in NC
This time of year I often wake up in a cold sweat thinking about the Slovenian whore’s ghastly Christmas decorations.
Ohio Mom
@Gin & Tonic: Ohio Dad does that with the local paper. Every time our introductory rate is about to expire and the bill is about to go up, he calls and says he’s cancelling and voila, the introductory rate is extended.
Al Z.
What’s scares me most is the simultaneous realization that the White House Christmas decor is all about appealing to kids and that Barron is a likely nominee in 25 years.
Sure Lurkalot
@Gin & Tonic: I got about the same WAPO renewal rate, $9.99. But I’m on the fence because the changes I’ve seen since Marty retired are not good. I have a few more days to decide to just cancel.
I recall a comment from last week that the offer to not cancel was $40, so readership must be dropping like flies to cut that to $10. Will they change? Eight ball says not likely.
PS I didn’t click “too expensive” as my reason…something more like I was dissatisfied with the content.
different-church-lady
@Al Z.: Something good, the tag says, something good…
different-church-lady
@Sure Lurkalot:
So I’m not the only one with that sense? It’s like all click bait with a thin varnish of sobriety on it there now.
Ohio Mom
@Al Z.: Oh, do not worry about Barron going into politics. He seems a shy guy to me and besides, by that time the Trump house of cards will have long collapsed.
You will have forgotten he exists until you see him in a “What ever happened to…” article toward the back of a People Magazine.
Betty Cracker
@Jay: Got my booster shot (Moderna x3) this evening, and my arm is already hurting. It seems like it didn’t hurt until the next day from the previous shots, which I got earlier in the day both times. I guess that’s a good sign?
jonas
Which are precisely values one associates with the birth of our Lord, Major General Jesus Amurikah Goddamit Christ.
MisterForkbeard
@Betty Cracker: I get my booster on Thursday, and one of my kids gets her 2nd shot on Friday. Life is good.
Suzanne
Someone funnier than me described Third Lady’s holiday decor as bring “from the Crate and Barrel in the Westeros Mall” and I will never forget it.
Ken
@Betty Cracker: Think of it as your immune system saying “This again….”
Or “THERMAL EXHAUST PORT!!” if you prefer that analogy.
Another Scott
Speaking of something good after something horrible, …
Totally unsurprising that Omar is behaving like a sensible elected official. And Boebert is doubling down on being a vile one.
Grrr…
Cheers,
Scott.
Suzanne
Spawn the Younger got her second shot today AHHHHHHHHHH.
Suzanne
@Mike in NC:
Hey. Sex work is real work. She fucked Orange for free.
jonas
@dmsilev:
Especially when the kids would come into the East Room and see the Pale Man at the end of a long table of succulent treats and then one little guy couldn’t resist and would eat a grape and then the Pale Man would start staggering after them with their ghoulish hand-eyes but then pull off their mask and it would be Melania in a costume laughing maniacally. Good times.
Oh, wait. That’s how they trained Barron not to snack after 9pm. He’ll turn out fine, I’m sure.
debbie
@Another Scott:
What a total jackass. ?
James E Powell
@Suzanne:
For free? I doubt that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Suzanne:
Nah
Kay
Jim, Foolish Literalist
one of the laugh out loud funny parts of Mary Trump’s book, to me anyway, was the Christmas gifts her uncle gave her
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I hate regifting.
JoyceH
@Ohio Mom:
At which point we’ll learn that Barron lives off the grid in upstate New Hampshire, where he raises goats and chickens. He also paints.
Ken
@JoyceH: No one will bother painting in the future. They’ll just create NFTs for non-existent paintings.
Kropacetic
No lie, I actually kind of like Melania’s Christmas setup with the dark bare branches lit from underneath.
It’s not warm, but it’s aesthetically pleasing.
Jay
@Raven:
Ministry of Health.
Jay
@Betty Cracker:
good sign.
JoyceH
@Ken: “Bother”? That’s like saying nobody will knit socks anymore – why would you spend up to ten bucks on the yarn and spend a couple weeks knitting socks when you can get a six-pack of pairs at the store for what you paid for the yarn. And yet…
Jay
@debbie:
regrifting is fine, as long as it is something they want, will use, and isn’t used.
I both flyfish and use tools. Lost track of how many fishing/tool themed crap I got, over the years. sweater, really?????? Tie??????
No 96 tooth fine blade recut 10” saw blade?
no box of 100 namagichi #16 2x long shank hooks?
Jay
@JoyceH:
alpaca
Red Cedar
@Gin & Tonic: You just saved me 90 bucks! My subscription was set to renew at $99/year in January, but I followed your instructions and voila! The renewal will now cost me 9.95. Thank you!!
JoyceH
@Jay: Alpaca AND goats. He’s into Fiber. Also his small batch goat cheese is highly prized among those in the know. On some weekends you’ll find him at the local watering hole playing washtub bass with a jug band.
Citizen Alan
@Gin & Tonic: Still too expensive for me. I will not pay so much as a penny if any microfraction of it goes to pay the salary of Marc Thiessen.
Betty
@dmsilev: I believe she paid some high-priced interior decorator for that – umm – result.
evodevo
@Betty: Did she pay? or did WE pay? I don’t know how that stuff works…