White House Christmas Decoration Countdown: Christmas Eve Edition

Counting down the days to Christmas with a daily morning post containing a photograph of the White House Christmas decorations.  Have no clue why someone Jewish is doing this or how I got all these pictures — read the first post.

Don’t forget about the Life of Scratch Kindle promotion (it’s free for the day!) : a Christmas gift to you.

Merry almost Christmas.  The Presidential seal festooned with garlands.

And while not actually decorated for Christmas in the slightest, I thought this portrait came with an interesting story as to why Kennedy is looking down.  It was painted after Kennedy’s death.  Jackie wanted this painter for the presidential portrait, but the painter refused because he said that he couldn’t paint a person without being able to look into his eyes.  She considered many other painters and finally returned to the original one, giving him a photo of her husband, walking with his eyes downcast, deep in thought. (I believe this image comes during or right after the Bay of Pigs invasion.)  He agreed to do the painting without Kennedy’s eyes visible.  It is the same painter who created the portrait of Jackie Kennedy in the Vermeil Room.