Melania Trump unveils White House Christmas decorations to mixed reviews

Melania Trump has unveiled her decorations for the Trump family’s first Christmas in the White House, eliciting praise - and some hilarity.

Her theme of “Time-Honored Traditions” is intended to pay homage to “200 years of holiday traditions”, says HouseBeautiful. As well as a traditional Nativity Scene, she has deployed more than 1,000ft of garland on staircases, a 18ft 6in Christmas tree with ornaments representing each US state and territory in the Blue Room, a Christmas tree made of books in the library and a hallway of winter trees.

When Trump began her tour of the White House decorations, says the Daily Mail, “she was greeted by three ballerinas performing to the Nutcracker Suite, which was the first White House Christmas theme”.

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Wearing a white Christian Dior dress with gold accessories, she was surrounded by visiting children from the nearby Joint Base Andrews military facility. One boy said, “She's beautiful, like an angel!”

But when Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s director of communications, posted pictures of the decorations on Twitter, the reaction was not universally adoring.

Some believed the hallway decorations would make a better backdrop for a horror film.

Official photographs prompted a more positive reaction:

Melania Trump attended to “every detail” of the decorations, which took 150 volunteers 1,600 hours to prepare, says RT.

Her husband, meanwhile, today denounced a quote from a friend of his wife, who had told Vanity Fair that Melania did not want to be first lady.

“As a magazine tailored to women it is shameful that they continue to write salacious and false stories meant to demean Mrs Trump,” a Trump spokesman told CNN, “rather than focus on her positive work as first lady as a supportive wife and mother.”