First Lady Melania Trump has officially opened the festive season at the White House by welcoming the 2025 White House Christmas tree.
Smiling as she greeted the 25-foot Concolor Fir from Michigan, Melania watched as the tree arrived at the North Portico on a horse-drawn carriage. Once decorated, it will serve as the centerpiece of the Blue Room’s holiday display.
“It’s a beautiful tree,” she said, dressed in a cream overcoat and dark red gloves. The first lady walked around the carriage for photos and took a moment to shake hands with the driver and a woman accompanying the two Clydesdale horses.
“Merry Christmas!” Melania added, before turning and walking back into the White House.
Earlier this year, she offered a preview of this year’s holiday look in an October video, where she arranged a gold-themed Christmas display accented with garlands and ornate decorations.
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This year’s tree was supplied by Korson’s Tree Farms, which earned the 2025 Grand Champion Growers title from the National Christmas Tree Association. It marks the first time a Michigan farm has received the honor since 1985.
“We’re very excited about the opportunity. We’re proud to be able to represent real Christmas tree farmers across the United States and carrying on that tradition of providing a real Christmas tree for the White House,” the Christmas tree farm said in a statement.
Founded in 1973, Korson’s Tree Farm remains a family-owned business in Sidney Township, about an hour northeast of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The tree itself was personally selected in September by Dale Haney, the White House superintendent of grounds.
Echoes of Melania’s Past Christmas Frustrations
This holiday season also comes seven years after a leaked audio recording captured Melania venting about the pressures of decorating the White House in 2018.
“I’m working … my ass off on the Christmas stuff, that you know, who gives a f*** about the Christmas stuff and decorations?” she said in the recording. “But I need to do it, right?”
“OK, and then I do it and I say that I’m working on Christmas and planning for the Christmas and they said, ‘Oh, what about the children that they were separated?’ Give me a f****** break.”
That same year, she unveiled an unconventional display of bright red, conical Christmas trees lining the White House corridors, a look she dubbed “American Treasures.” The White House later explained that the red color was meant to reference the “pales, or stripes, found in the presidential seal designed by our Founding Fathers,” but the internet widely mocked the design.
Despite the criticism, Melania defended her choices at the time.
“I think they look fantastic. I hope everybody will come over and visit it. In real life, they look even more beautiful,” she said. “You are all welcome to visit the White House, the people’s house.”
