White House Illuminates a "Simple Gifts" 2010 Christmas

Expect a Simple Gifts theme, it's that simple Jack. The "simple things that bring joy at Christmas" centers the 2010 White House theme according to the White House. Volunteers from various states assisted in the 2010 Christmas theme but then comes the focal point question.

How simple is simple?

With the 18.5 ft tall13 ft wide Douglas-fir standing in the Blue Room, 1,000 homemade oak leaf roses at the East Entrance, 75 pounds of recycled paper and 6 magazines for the Green Room and gourds galore from yellow pear to dipper gourds including 500 pomegranates, 450 artichokes and more - it doesn't sound simple Jack.

And if you couldn't find pipe cleaners in the past couple of months it is probably due to the 40,000 pipe cleaners needed to make a replica of Bo, the White House family dog.

In the Youtube submitted WH Christmas video the lines of vines are incredibly lengthy with gold leafing, perfect for a White House wreathe and mantle display. One woman is found struggling with an oversize bow large enough for a small child to hide behind. Thousands of little tasks with big decor.

Some volunteers are in their first year in joining the decorative 2010 White House event. Edwina from Michigan, stated that she wrote to the White House for years until she got a response, finally. The White House used approximately 97 volunteers.

All of the above is not what one would consider a simple task with simple decorations to celebrate a simple Christmas theme. Simple as pie? Not unless the pie is cooked in a 13 ft pie pan and placed into a compatible old fashioned gas stove - complex task towards a simple outcome. What about the tour book?

The decorative White House 2010 Christmas tour book appears to have fruit in front of a black background as the first image. To me it appears too much like mourning - dark and bland. The rest of the tour book includes delicate holiday images with a description of rooms along the simple Christmas tour. For further information on the tour visit the White House.

With an estimated 100,000 visitors in a nation of an estimated 300,000,000 plus in population (310,859,594 Dec. 6, 2010 US Census) the tour is small in numbers considering. The 2009 population of Washington DC reached just under 600,000. However, in all of the simple math comes a simple answer. There is only one way to lift those numbers - visit and be counted, literally.

Don't rule out a security check or pat down. We are talking the White House.

A simple meh-meh-message, an incredibly complex task with the reward of holiday eye candy as the gift, it's that simple Jack - Simple Gifts.

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Source(s):
White House
WH Youtube
US Census
(accessed / embedded Dec. 6, 2010)