Bucks woman helps holiday decorating at the White House

Coleen Christian Burke's fingerprints were all over the festive ornaments accenting America's most famous residence this past holiday season.

From the East Room to the State Dining Room, Burke, of Washington Crossing, Bucks County, was part of a massive effort to spruce up the White House for the holidays. The project, she said, was both glamorous and exhausting.

"It's a lot of blood, sweat, and glitter," she said last month.

For at least 50 years, the rooms and offices at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have been festooned with Christmas trees and other holiday symbols, generally at the first lady's direction.

But staffers and volunteers help execute her vision. That's where people such as Burke come in.

Burke, 45, a former television producer, said she began decorating people's homes during the holidays about 10 years ago. And after seeing a TV special about Christmas at the White House, she wrote to scores of people to try to help out, from the first lady's office to politicians and even executives at the station that aired the show.

In 2008, Burke said, she finally received a call from the White House florist, who invited her to join that year's team and decorate the house for Laura Bush.

A few years later, in 2011, Burke wrote a book about the White House decorations, Christmas With the First Ladies, compiling images from Christmases of the Kennedys, Reagans, Clintons, and others.

In 2013, Burke was invited back to decorate for the Obamas, and this year she helped again.

Burke said the 2014 theme was "A Children's Winter Wonderland." She helped make ornaments out of used children's books, she said, and dressed up suitcases to fit in with a "trains and travel" arrangement in the dining room.

Over a hectic Thanksgiving weekend, Burke said, about 100 volunteers were first taken to a warehouse to retrieve decorative supplies, similar to an off-site attic or basement. Then, starting on a Sunday, the group had three days at the White House to complete the job.

"You're working on a lot of adrenaline," Burke said. "You feel the responsibility that you're decorating for the first family."

The White House estimated that about 65,000 visitors were expected to visit during the holidays as well.

Burke said she was pleased with how the designs ultimately came out.

In early December, when Michelle Obama unveiled the decorations to a room full of military families, she said, "The house is just breathtaking."

All Burke's efforts at the White House, however, meant one thing got a tad less attention over the holidays: the decorations in her own home.

"What's that saying, 'The sink always leaks in the plumber's house'?" she said at the time. "It's decorated. It's just not decorated to the same extent as the White House."