The reverse side of the 2011 Theodore Roosevelt ornament is a colorized scene of the family’s discovery of Archie’s hidden Christmas tree found in a seamstress’s closet in 1903.

The discovery of the tree, defying the president’s ban, was a popular Christmas illustration for a story that ran in Ladies Home Journal underscoring the simplicity of the Roosevelt family’s Christmas decorations and the president’s conservation ethic. Holly and candle motifs from that article inspired the design of the ornament’s gold plated brass frame.

If you missed it, read part one on the design of the 2011 White House Christmas ornament, and if you haven’t ordered it yet, there is still time to take advantage of free standard shipping.

Since 1981, the White House Historical Association has produced an annual White House Christmas ornament that celebrates the life and presidency of each United States President. Each year, careful consideration goes into the theme and design of each ornament and the one that best honors and reflects the president is selected.

The front of the 2011 Theodore Roosevelt ornament is a colorized reproduction of a Harper’s Weekly political cartoon by William A. Rogers that captured the anticipation associated with the Roosevelt family’s first Christmas at the White House in 1901.

Original cartoon by William A. Rogers as it appeared in Harper’s Weekly.

It reflects the excitement President Roosevelt and his lively young family brought to life at the White House. There had been no children in the White House for more than a decade so the caption noted, “I hear that there are some kids in the White House this year.” The similarity of the drawing of a jolly and rotund Santa Claus with his white flowing beard was popularized in later twentieth century advertising and reflects an evolution of the modern identity of Santa Claus from cartoonist Thomas Nast’s elf-like Santa in Harper’s Weekly in 1862, the Rogers 1901 version on this ornament, to artist Haddon Sundblom’s famous 1931 red-suited Santa for a Coca Cola ad campaign.

An 1893 depiction of an elf-like Santa in the St. Paul Daily Globe. Library of Congress.