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Order your 2008 White House
Christmas Ornament now!
The
Defense Credit Union Council is selling the 2008 White House Christmas
Ornament again this year as a fundraiser for the George E. Myers
Scholarship Fund. The price remains at $20 per ornament.
You may place your
orders by phone (202/638-3950), fax (202/6383410), email (dcuc1@cuna.com)
or mail: Defense Credit Union Council, 601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,
Suite 600, South Building, Washington, DC 20004-2601. Please click
HERE to download a
order form.
The
28th Anniversary Holiday Ornament of the White House
Historical Association
The 2008 White House Christmas ornament honors the
administration of President Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901), the
twenty-third president of the United States. Serving one term from 1889
to 1893, Harrison was a centennial president inaugurated 100 years after
George Washington.
The diminutive chief executive doted on his
grandchildren and went to great lengths to amuse them. To the delight of
the children, he introduced the first recorded Christmas tree to the
White House on their first Christmas there in 1889. He conferred with
the White House gardener, Henry Pfister, who, with the “bouquet makers”
on his staff, decorated the family library with ropes of holly and
ferns, accented with mistletoe. Dominating the center of the room was
what one observer described as “the most beautiful and perfect tree that
could be found in all the country.
Inspired by the Harrison family’s Victorian
Christmas tree, this 24 karat gold finished ornament interprets this
special tree. The tree, laden with baubles and garland, is a canvas for
all sorts of treats and toys. Beneath the tree are the presents the
Harrison grandchildren received: a toy train and a wooden sled await
Benjamin, Mary’s rosy-cheeked doll sits on a tricycle, and nearby is
Marthena’s much wished for dollhouse. A three-foot-high Santa Claus
completes the season’s spectacle.
“We shall have an
old-fashioned Christmas Tree for the grandchildren upstairs,
and I shall be their Santa Claus myself.”
President
Benjamin Harrison
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