History of White House Christmas Cards

      White House Christmas Cards History.

Wouldn’t it be great to receive a greeting card from the White House? I think I’d flip. My husband would have to revive me if that were to happen.

The act of sending greeting cards over the holiday season began with President Coolidge. At that time, people all over the United States had begun the tradition, and it’s still in practice.

President Hoover, in 1930-31, sent greeting cards to friends and family with pictures included! So he was in the Christmas spirit even in office.

 FDR introduced more of a stylized Christmas card in 1937 which was provided by the distinguished Brewood Engravers. The single-sided FDR offering was a small, three by four inch, lithograph of a snow covered farm with two red barns and two green fir trees. The inscription said simply, "Christmas 1937."

In 1942 the Roosevelt’s were seated for a black and white photograph. The greeting read: "With Christmas Greetings and our Best Wishes for a Happier New Year."

The Truman’s had larger and smaller cards.

Throughout the remainder of the Eisenhower years the Presidential Seal was the single stark feature on the front of the cards. "The President and Mrs. Eisenhower extend their best wishes for Christmas and the New Year."

In 1961 President John Kennedy also incorporated the dramatic Presidential Seal for the White House Christmas cards. The card used a smooth white stock with a bold green silk border, and used the words, "Season's Greetings 1961," on the front. Inside the card the president and Mrs. Kennedy extended wishes for a "Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year."

Every president since has added a special twist their greeting, and the tradition continues. A card now from the Kennedy’s would sell on the market for about $11,000.00

My information came from the White House historical site.

Interesting, isn't it?

Barb

      Barb's Books

Holiday Ideas-why not!

 

    Greetings! Let's see who bugs you the most during the season and write about it, shall we?

Let’s look for new ideas by observing your relatives during the holiday season. What has always bugged you? Here is a list of irritants and annoyances. 

 

Here is a list:

1.    The mole on the persons cheek has hair growing and it’s either hilarious or horrible to look at and you’re sitting next to the person.

2.    You always get stuck next to your elderly great aunt who keeps patting your hand and telling you that you’re a good girl or boy.

3.    Who is always asking if so and so has a boyfriend/girlfriend or what are the marriage plans?

4.    You love your grandma, but she can’t hear worth a darn so you have to speak up all the time.  Then, there’s the time you asked if she’d like a refill of coffee and she didn’t hear you and it took about five times of raising your voice, before she did. While fetching the coffee, someone politely and softly asked if she’d like a cookie and Grandma heard the person. 

5.    Or, you wanted to sit by your favored niece or nephew, but they didn’t attend.

The list of course is endless and can easily be written into scenes in your writing whether it’s fiction or not. 

 

I had an aunt

who always called me Bev.

I did really love her

in spite of it.

A cousin in-law used to call me

the Jolly Green Giant

because I was tall and the bridesmaid dress,

was green with a pillbox hat.

I personally thought 

a string bean 

was better. 

Barbara Schlichting 

What I just wrote, is true.  My husband’s aunt who is now deceased could never get it through her head that my name was Barb. I corrected her many times, however, it never stuck. I had been a bridesmaid for my cousin when I was sixteen, tall and very thin. That’s what a cousin’s husband called me, the Jolly Green Giant. Don’t you think a string bean is better?

Go ahead and write in those annoyances and irritants, it’s well deserved!

Please leave a comment so that we can get to know each other better and share this to all of your writer friends and family. 

Barb

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Where to find ideas?

 Where do you find ideas?

      

       Not so very long ago, my family and I went to an Italian restaurant. We looked at the menu ahead of time and got lost trying to figure out what everything was! Neither of us had a clue. Our son suggested to research every word that has us stymied. We spent one hour trying to figure out what it was that we each wanted to have for dinner.

      We had so much fun and when the meal came, it was just as much fun to eat it as well as enjoy each other's company. The foreign meal got us to talk about vacations and where to go next. It's worth it to try different venues, you never know what's ahead.

      The meal was great, too!

       Barb Schlichting

        Barb's Books

MIDDLE SCHOOL READERS

 

Word to Pieces!

        Let's make Mary Lincoln young again to the young readers! I've completed the second round of editing and am anxious for the final completion.  Word to Pieces is the second in the series. It showcases a very important speech which Mr. Lincoln gave before his nomination for president.  The speech propelled him into the White House.

       So let's bring history to life for our youngsters. Let's teach them a little history while having fun doing it. Besides learning about the speech, there are other little bits and pieces of history that are brought forth for the reader to learn.

      Let's make history come alive!

      

                                 Barb Schlichting--history buff.

   

                     Barb's Books

First Friends, who was yours?

 

 

                               First Friends

         Here I am with a friend from grade school. I won't tell you her name simply because I don't have permission, but she was my first friend. I believe that we  walked to school together, too.  My older brother walked me when I was in kindergarten and I remember our mother standing or should I say, hiding, inside of an old phone booth to watch us cross a busy street. She must've peeked out because I waved to her. At the end of the day, I asked why she was in the booth but I don't remember the answer. It most likely had something to do with 'mind your own business'. My mother always got straight to the point but my dad was little gentler when it came to that sort of thing.

        My friend also recalled, as we grew older,  my baby brother stood near the fence and called out my name when we returned home. 

        Our fifty-five high school reunion just happened three weeks ago. Time has flown by faster than a speeding bullet, and I'm not sure that I like it or am prepared for it. Are you prepared for the future? 

         I might've went to the library with my friend, but don't remember. I read an awful lot as a kid and still do. I have a long list of favorite books and wouldn't know where to begin to name my favorite. Since I began to write about the first ladies with a dash of history and a dash of a little fun, I've since learned that when Thomas Jefferson sold his books to Congress, they became beginning of the Library of Congress. Did you know that?

        Did you know that Jefferson realized that for our country to survive, the populace must be educated and not just the wealthy? He began by building small schools and hired teachers, paying out of his pocket, also. That's how our educational system began. Read his biography. Thomas Jefferson. Visit Monticello. It's fascinating.

        Who was your first friend?

    Barb Schlichting

Barb's Books

Pardoning of the turkey!

                         Thanksgiving tradition in the White House: the pardoning of the Turkey!

 

           Throughout history, 22 have been pardoned at the White House, and today, President Obama will pardon one more.

           Rumors and mythmakers thrust the clemency onto Harry S. Truman, but it’s true. The pardoning of Tom Turkey can be traced to Abraham Lincoln, believe or not! In 1865, Tad pleaded on behalf of a holiday turkey and his father granted clemency. The moment was reported by White House dispatcher Noah Brooks.

                                                      

                                                            Harry S. Truman

            Turkeys were donated from a Rhode Island poultry dealer, Horace Vose. The tradition began in 1870, and held until his death. In 1921, Harding Girls Club in Chicago outfitted the turkey as a flying ace, complete with in 1925.

             First Lady Grace Coolidge accepted a turkey from a Vermont Girl Scout.

             Harry Truman was the first president to receive a turkey from the poultry and egg board. There was some kind of ‘thing’ going on from September to November 1947, about ‘poultryless Thursday’, and the White House was flooded with chickens. ‘Hens for Harry’. Truman then decided to promote the industry, and he got two turkeys in December 1948. He said, ‘They’d come in handy’. 

             President Kennedy said, “Let’s keep him going.” The pardoning didn’t jell until 1989 when President George H. W. Bush.

             Now you know the rest of the story-!

                                                                    

 http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_press/index.php/backgrounders/thanksgiving-pardoning-turkey-white-house/

White House Dollhouse novels for middle school readers!

 

Middle School Readers! Let's put the middle readers in the 'know' about American history! History meets Modern!

     Did you know that soldiers from the American Revolution paraded around Dolley Madison's house after the War of 1812? That she smoked a corncob pipe and a bird which flew around and bit the president? So much is in this series, little tidbits of history.

    There will eventually be four but Spangled to Pieces is the first in the series. 

     Be ready, history teachers, this series will be a valuable assest to the classroom.