For four years, between 2017 and 2020, former President Donald Trump and his administration made headlines on a near-daily basis with outlandish tweets, legally questionable executive decisions, and committing social faux pas.
And though she mostly kept to herself during his tenure in office, Trump's wife Melania made news of her own each year for her White House Christmas decorations — mostly negative in nature. Terra-Cotta Warriors Head Statues
"Melania's Christmases, Ranked from Most to Least Haunted," one headline from 2020 read. "There's no comfort & joy in Melania Trump's bleak and impersonal Christmas decor," says another.
While her decorations were a bit atypical than those of past years, I think it's reasonable to say years later that they weren't all that bad.
Much of the criticism appears to stem from her leaked comments in 2020, where she belabored being compared to her husband's child separation policies at the border and the expectations of being First Lady. She said she had "worked her ass off on the Christmas stuff," despite not caring about the responsibility.
"Who gives a fuck about the Christmas stuff and decorations?" Melania asked in the recording, "But I need to do it, right?"
Though it seems she may have detested the task, Melania ultimately put creative spins on the White House's typical, traditional holiday decorations that were, well… unique.
And not necessarily in a bad way.
As my Pulitzer Prize-winning editor — a former culture writer — told me, "If the White House doesn't look like 'Sleep No More' at Christmas, I think the First Lady fucked up."
Even my nerdy, usually Trump-detesting roommate had positive words for Melania's decorations. "It seriously looked like Doctor Doom was into Christmas," she said.
With that in mind, below are the highlights from Melania's Christmas decorations from the East Colonnade:
In 2017, Melania's decorative theme was "Time-Honored Traditions," though it's not entirely clear how that ultimately tied into the decorations themselves.
Nevertheless, Melania's first Christmas in the White House began by placing a bunch of … barren sticks protruding from pots in the East Colonnade, the location where much of the First Lady's most notable Christmas decorations occurred during her husband's tenure.
A year after her twig-filled decorative debut, each of Melania's East Colonnade trees were blood-red colored and lined the walls without any additional lighting or decorations as part of an "American Treasures"-themed Christmas.
Honestly, 2018's decorations weren't her best. The trees themselves were neat because they were atypical in color, but there wasn't any special lighting added or anything else to make it any more memorable.
In 2019, Melania took out nearly every tree that normally dots the walls of the East Colonnade over the holidays, replacing them with acrylic paneling detailed with national landmarks in an attempt to present "a timeline of American design, innovation, and architecture."
Clean in appearance, a unique idea, and highlighting the nation's history in a cool way: What's not to like about this look?
Lion Deco Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, months after leaked audio showed her asking "Who gives a fuck about the Christmas stuff," and weeks before exiting the White House Melania used her final time decorating the building to position elaborate potted plants throughout the East Colonnade as part of her "America the Beautiful" theme.