TEMPERANCE, Mich. — It's one thing to decorate your home or workplace to spread some holiday cheer with your co-workers, friends and family. And it's another thing to decorate one of the most important buildings in the U.S.
Through applications, a Temperance, Mich., family has twice helped decorate the White House for holiday festivities.
"My ultimate dream would be to go to the White House, never imagining that it was even a possibility," said Mark Smith."You assume they have their own decorators and designers."
Smith and his daughter, Danielle Sims, have decorated a room together at the Wildwood Manor House for years. They loved doing it, so they decided to apply for the same at the White House in Washington D.C. and see what happened.
In 2020, they were selected. And in 2023, they were selected again, working with a professional decorator in the State Dining Room.
"What dignitaries, what presidents have ate in this room? And here I am a little country boy from Michigan, sitting in this spot," Smith said.
The father and daughter were part of the 300 individuals selected from a pool of 3,000 applicants from across the country. They spent the three days following Thanksgiving in Washington D.C.
After the decorations were complete, they attended an open house to celebrate this year's holiday theme of "Magic, Wonder, and Joy" and even got to meet First Lady Jill Biden.
"As soon as you walk in, there was a military orchestra playing Christmas music, they hand you a glass of champagne and you can just walk around the White House freely and take pictures," Sims said.
"People are in a jolly mood, just enjoying the atmosphere, the transformation of changing your own home when you decorate. The transformation that takes place of the holiday things comings out and everything, it was just amazing," Smith said of the experience.
The two are planning on applying again and say anyone who would enjoy the honor should apply, too.
"Anybody who is interested in decorating for Christmas, who has a love of Christmas, who would find this interesting, who would enjoy to do this, just apply because you never know," Sims said.
The application process to help decorate usually begins in mid-August.