Official White House Christmas Tree, 1972

This photograph, taken in the Cross Hall looking into the Blue Room, shows the official White House Christmas Tree as decorated by First Lady Pat Nixon in 1972. For her family's fourth Christmas in the White House, Mrs. Nixon drew inspiration from two paintings by Severin Roesen from the White House Collection: "Still Life with Fruit" and "Nature's Bounty." The Blue Room Christmas Tree was adorned with 3000 satin balls, 150 Federal star ornaments, and the large, velvet-and-satin state flower ornaments that had become a defining feature of the official White House Christmas Tree during the Richard M. Nixon administration.