Melania Trump put her headline-making disdain for seasonal adornments aside to unveil the 2020 White House Christmas decorations this week.
In photos and a short video posted to her social media platforms early on Monday, the first lady took viewers on a virtual tour showcasing this year’s display, which boasts an “America the Beautiful” theme.
“Over the past four years I have had the honor to travel to some of our nation’s most beautiful landmarks and meet some of the most compassionate and patriotic American citizens,” she said in a press release. “From coast to coast, the bond that all [Americans] share is an appreciation for our traditions, values, and history, which were the inspiration behind the decorations this year.”
Eagle-eyed viewers will note some timely references amid the twinkling lights and glittering ornaments. Decorations in the White House Library, for example, celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. A miniature Christmas village in another room includes a snow-covered hospital, an apparent nod to health care workers amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Catch a short video of the White House decorations below.
The 2020 Christmas decorations will be Melania’s final act as first lady before she and her husband, Donald Trump, leave the White House in January.
The unveiling comes weeks after Melania was heard complaining about having to decorate the White House for Christmas in a secretly recorded conversation by a former friend and aide, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff.
“I’m working like a, my ass off at Christmas stuff,” she said in the audio, taped in 2018. “You know, who gives a fuck about Christmas stuff and decoration? But I need to do it, right?”
The first lady’s stylistic choices, too, have stoked controversy. Her 2017 foray into yuletide decor featured a hallway of stark white branches that reminded some of “The Chronicles of Narnia” and, more disturbingly, “The Shining.”
The following year, her 2018 forest of crimson trees was compared to “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Hulu’s dystopian drama about a society that subjugates women.