Photo: FLOTUS / Twitter
Aren't we past this?
By Sanika Nalgirkar — Written on Nov 30, 2021
The annual White House tradition of unveiling the First Lady's Christmas decorations looks a little different this year now that Jill Biden is taking over from Melania Trump.
Recently, Jill Biden revealed her Christmas decorations with the title “Gifts from the heart” as the theme for this year's holiday season.
Each of the rooms in the White House represents a different aspect of the theme. Some examples include the Library room which is adorned with butterflies to represent the “gift of learning” and the Vermeil room which includes a tree decorated with ornaments of color samples and Christmas wreaths made of paintbrushes to represent the “gift of visual arts”.
When deciding the theme, Biden was "inspired by small acts of kindness and experiences that lifted our spirits this year and throughout the pandemic," according to a statement from the White House.
As the pictures of Christmas at the White House are passed around on social media, more people are, of course, comparing it to those of Melania Trump's decorations.
Jill Biden and Melania Trump's Christmas decorations are being pitted against each other.
In 2018, Melania decorated the halls of the White House with blood-red trees. It was criticized so much that many memes popped up on social media as well. Similarly, in 2017, Melania chose bare white twig trees to adorn the halls. While they seemed quite elegant in the daylight, they were spooky at night when the lights were dimmed.
There have been numerous tweets comparing the two decorations and ranking them. One Twitter user tweeted “Where’s the color? Looks like a giant tree with lights on it.”
While there were many tweets criticizing Jill's Christmas decorations and slamming them as plain, there were many in favor of it too. However, supporting Jill's efforts often comes with criticizing Melania's Christmas decorations.
Another user tweeted. “HEY @melaniatrump. This is how to decorate the people’s house for Christmas!”
Many of the tweets are similar to the two mentioned above, either in favor of Jill or Melania while belittling the other, but do they need to be compared?
Aren't we over comparing Jill Biden and Melania Trump?
While Jill's decorations may seem plain to one because of her predecessor, they are beautiful to others because they represent the Christmas spirit. And while Melania's Blood trees are scary to some, they may seem to bring out some color in the festival.
There is no need to compare the two women based on how they decorate their homes or anything for that matter.
Melania's blood trees received so much criticism that she even commented on it, "We are in 21st century and everybody has a different taste. I think they look fantastic."
Just like Melania said, “everyone has a different taste” and different preferences as to how they want to celebrate a festival.
Sanika Nalgirkar, M.F.A. is a writer and an Editorial Intern at YourTango who writes on entertainment & news, lifestyle, and pop culture topics.