A 120-pound gingerbread house, thousands of decorative butterflies and a Lego portrait of President Trump.
Melania Trump, the first lady, unveiled a scaled-back collection of Christmas decorations on Monday, mixing mostly customary elements with some flashes of the nontraditional.
The theme was “Home Is Where the Heart Is,” Mrs. Trump said in a statement.
Public tours had been paused to allow for the tearing down of the East Wing. But for the holiday, visitors were allowed to tour the public rooms of the White House, decorated in a classic red-and-green Christmas theme.
Mrs. Trump worked with designer Hervé Pierre, her stylist, to bring the “warmth and comfort” of home to the People’s House, the White House said.
The blue butterflies in the Red Room represent transformation and their presence was dedicated to foster-care families. White ornaments with the Mrs. Trump’s anti-bullying campaign, “Be Best,” hung from the tree.
In the Green Room, there was a domino village, paper chains and game pieces.
The official gingerbread house weighed in at more than 120 pounds, and an 18-foot concolor fir from Sidney, Mich., commemorates Gold Star families in the Blue Room.
Traditionally, visitors attending holiday festivities at the White House would enter through the East Colonnade, draped with green garlands or flanked by Christmas trees.
But with the East Wing reduced to rubble, there are fewer decorations this year.
“Wherever we are,” Mrs. Trump said, “we can create a home filled with grace, radiance and endless possibilities.”
Aishvarya Kavi works in the Washington bureau of The Times, helping to cover a variety of political and national news.
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