Olivia Pope Reports: Christmas at the White House!

It is 12:39 a.m. and I am still wired. So here I am finishing the blog that I've been meaning to complete! Also - we are in the middle of a blizzard. Something about a blizzard makes me want to cozy up on the couch with my sleeping dog and work on my blog! So here goes:

Our family was lucky enough to be able to go on a tour of the White House a few weekends ago. We were majorly assisted by Angela's Mom to get our application reviewed, and we were offered to "jump on" to another local family's tour. Normally, tours of the white house take a lot of advance notice (we had to write our senator to request permission, and once processed, complete a background check), but they are particularly busy during Christmas because the White House gets absolutely DECKED OUT with christmas flair!

The tour started at 8am, and we needed to check in to the tour 15 minutes early. On top of that, we needed to meet even earlier with the Hawaii family (who we had never previously met) to coordinate our entry ticket, which they held. So we planned on meeting at 730 a.m. near the Treasury side of the white house. We live about 40 minutes away from D.C. with no traffic, and since we had no idea how traffic would affect our commute, we opted to stay in D.C. within walking distance of the White House. If you haven't had a chance to read the Yelp review I wrote of our hotel, please do so here: 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/harrington-hotel-washington?hrid=1LQoK8fZPBz7SOmIuOvzIQ&utm_campaign=www_biz_share_page_share_review&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)

 I venture to say you will find it wickedly delightful. The moral of the story is: it was scary, it was expensive, and we were not murdered despite our fears of the same.

We walked the two blocks to the White House (it really doesn't get much more prime than that!!) decked in our winter gear (it was, after all, 34 degrees while we were walking outside) and made it on time, which is a record for the Taylor family. Everyone knows we generally arrive fashionably late to most occasions. We met our group, then walked through four different guard shacks where we had to have our ID and name verified against their printed list. Our last and final screen involved the same type of screen at the airport. The security was crazy, but totally understandable considering the circumstances. Secret Service was also swarming at every corner, and while they were polite enough, it was still somewhat intimidating!

He said he technically couldn't pose, but allowed me to get his photo - Secret Service. Chillin. With guns and bulletproof vests. This was from our first trip to D.C.

Waiting to start our tour!

Every single room in the White House was decorated with Christmas trees. It was so beautiful, and smelled wonderful. Every room also had different themes. I think the Christmas spirit made the tour that much more special. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to see the White House decorated so elaborately. 

Section dedicated to service members on deployments

Rob sending a Merry Christmas e-mail to deployed troops

Hallway of beautiful hanging snowflakes.
Every state had their own snowflake.

EO! Found em!

 

Fine China from multiple presidents

 

beautiful presidential portraits throughout the white house

The largest room in the white house. It is used for wedding receptions, parties, and even held the bodies of assassinated presidents (I know they said Abraham Lincoln's body was held in this room post mortem)

HUGE, GORGEOUS TREE! Red, white, and blue.

 

My favorite room was decorated like Babes in Toyland!

 

 

GIANT gumball machine

The president is often seen coming down these steps to do state of the union addresses 

The exit...

Which is what everyone sees as the "front" of the white house (see pillars)