At the White House, Volunteers Turn Holiday Tradition into a Warm, Shared Moment

Holiday music and hometown smiles set the scene at the White House

On a brisk afternoon at the White House, the rooms usually reserved for formal statecraft felt more like a family living room. The First Lady welcomed a group of volunteer performers and decorators to celebrate the 2025 holiday theme, “Home Is Where The Heart Is.” Volunteers moved between gleaming halls and evergreen displays, singing carols, arranging ornaments, and sharing stories with visitors and staff. What might have looked like a staged ceremony was, for many, an honest moment of connection — neighbors, friends and local artists summoned to decorate and perform in the nation’s most famous home.

How a modern White House ritual became a national touchstone

The White House Christmas celebration has grown into a public ritual that blends the private life of the first family with a gesture to the nation. For decades, the First Lady has led the decorating and programming of the home during the holidays, inviting volunteers from across the country to bring their crafts, music and local traditions to the mansion. Selection often highlights community groups, small arts organizations and people who have been quietly active in their towns. The result is a show that is less about pageantry and more about the small things that make a house a home — handmade wreaths, knitted stockings and familiar songs.

Two volunteers whose small-town gifts felt huge on the national stage

Mary Lopez, a retired schoolteacher from Youngstown, Ohio, came with a box of homemade paper stars she and her students had folded. “We did this in class every year,” she said, smiling. “I told them I’d bring our stars to Washington so we could be part of something bigger. That made me proud.” Mary spent the morning helping place the stars in a sunlit sitting room, her hands steady from years of working with children and glue sticks.

Across the East Room, a fiddler named Jamal Rivers from Charleston tuned his instrument and laughed about how nervous he was to play under the portraits of past presidents. Jamal volunteers at a community center and teaches music to teenagers. He described the moment he first walked into the audience: “There were kids from my neighborhood on the front row, and I thought, ‘This is for them.’ To play here and have them clap — that’s the memory I’ll keep.” His set mixed holiday standards with a foot-stomping tune from his region, and he said parents told him afterwards that it felt like home in a new way.

Not every volunteer came as a performer. A floral artist from suburban Virginia spent days crafting a giant garland out of pinecones and ribbon that wrapped a banister. She told fellow volunteers that she chose familystyle decorations to remind the First Family and visitors of the everyday gatherings that give holidays their meaning.

What visitors saw: decorations, music and quiet moments

The program stitched together short performances and tours that highlighted the volunteers’ work. Rooms were decorated with items drawn from local traditions — quilts from New England, hand-carved ornaments from the Midwest, and floral arrangements with native plants. On the South Lawn, a modest stage hosted a mix of choirs and soloists; indoors, smaller acoustic sets made the rooms feel intimate. Organizers selected roughly a few dozen volunteers for this year’s events, balancing performers and decorators so the celebration felt both lively and homely rather than theatrical.

Voices from the day: what the First Family and volunteers actually said

The First Lady greeted the group with a simple message of gratitude: “This house belongs to all of us, and your gifts remind us of the many ways people make a home warm and welcoming.” A nearby aide noted the volunteers’ nervous excitement and the steady stream of handshakes and hugs that followed each performance. One organizer observed that volunteers often leave feeling like they’ve been given a stage they didn’t expect — and a place in a shared national story.

Volunteers described the experience as both humbling and joyful. “I cried when I walked through the State Dining Room,” one decorator said. “It’s not about being on display. It’s about being remembered.”

More than ornamentation: what this gathering says about community

The ritual of inviting volunteers to help dress the White House is more than a decorative exercise. It is a deliberate way to tie personal stories and local crafts to a national symbol. Seeing a teacher’s paper stars or a fiddler’s well-worn bow in the White House does something few official events can: it invites the country to recognize that ordinary people shape public life. As the evening ended, volunteers lingered in doorways, trading addresses and plans to keep their new friendships alive. One young musician stood on the steps, fiddle case in hand, and looked back at the lit windows. “It feels like home,” he said, and that simple note captured the day — a mix of pride, warmth and the quiet promise that small acts can echo far beyond a nation’s capital.

Sources

• whitehouse.gov