One of 145 out of 12,000 applicants, Ashley Thompson has returned to the area after her trip to D.C. as a select group chosen to decorate the White House. She was at Kiwanis Thursday to detail the experience. If you ask her if she met anyone cool, she’ll tell you she nearly met Jesus. Already under the weather, Thompson says she got choked at a lunch leaving her unable to breathe let alone filibuster, she luckily was rescued by a volunteer firefighter who knew the Heimlich Maneuver.
Outside of the sickness, Thompson says it was an incredible experience. We told you about her selection back in October.
Read more at From the Farmhouse to the White House…Thompson to Help Decorate in D.C. – WRUL-FM
Of those 145 chosen, Thompson says she was part of a group of 90 that were selected to decorate on the back half of the week. She was assigned to Team Glow.
I got put on Team Glow. There were about 20 of us on that team. We were in charge of the Grand Foyer and the Cross Hall. We had 29 of the 51 trees in the entire White House display in our section. Those 29 ranged from 4 feet to 14 feet and all of them were real.
Thompson was one of only four individuals trusted and tasked with hand making garland. Thompson says that’s one of the things that sets White House decorating apart from anything else. Everything is hand crafted. And the bar for visual aesthetics is high including making sure no wiring is showing which makes for tedious effort.
This year’s White House theme was “Home is Where the Heart Is” and featured burgundy and gold, deep, rich colors Thompson says to complement the cream walls in the Grand Foyer. There was a room dedicated to family game night, another room dedicated to Gold Star families, and another highlighting the First Lady’s initiative for foster care featuring thousands of blue butterflies. Additionally, this was the first year AI was utilized in which a tree’s decorations were 3D printed with an ornament made to honor each state.
You can look for a TV show that highlights the efforts by searching White House Christmas 2025. The program is available for streaming on discovery+ and HBO Max and also on HGTV GO. You can also sneak a peek at 2025 Christmas Decorations at the White House – The White House.