Inside the White House Christmas card tradition – from Coolidge to Trump

Trump addresses weekend attacks at White House Christmas event President Donald Trump addressed the shootings at Brown University and in Sydney, Australia, as well as an attack on U.S. soldiers in Syria, during a White House Christmas reception on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. Few White House traditions are quite as time-honored or cherished as the annual Christmas celebrations it hosts - which stretch back more than a century and transcend partisan politics, imbuing the president's official residence with a feeling of continuity and warmth. But the sense of togetherness and cheer need not stop at the gates of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Like most families, U.S. presidents and first ladies have long used annual Christmas cards to share their holiday greeting to friends both near and far - communicating well-wishes, gratitude, and at times, subtle political statements. Here's a look at how the tradition of the White House Christmas card began, and how the tradition has evolved throughout the years. FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP DECORATES THE WHITE HOUSE FOR CHRISTMAS: 'HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS' Christmas trees in the Cross Hall of the White House during a media tour of the White House Christmas decorations in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. The theme of the 2025 White House Christmas decorations is "Home Is Where The Heart Is." (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images) Historians aren't quite sure when presidents began sending out Christmas cards, though many acknowledge that the practice likely began in an unofficial capacity in the late 1800s, with the recipients likely limited to a smaller group. In fact, it was not until 1927 that then-President Calvin Coolidge wrote what would become the first "official" Christmas card to the American people. Coolidge, in response to multiple requests for a holiday greeting, penned a short, simple message, "Season's Greetings," by hand in a distinctive, elegant form of cursive he was known for. The missive was published by every major newspaper in the country, kicking off what would become a larger, more elaborate tradition that continues to this day. In the years that followed, the Christmas greetings took the form of individual cards, and the list of recipients grew longer and more expansive. Former Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon each expanded on the tradition to make it a more formal tradition, with Eisenhower adding Cabinet secretaries, members of Congress, and U.S. ambassadors overseas to the list of recipients. MELANIA TRUMP GIVES TOUR OF 2018 WHITE HOUSE CHRISTMAS DECOR President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump are pictured in their official Christmas portrait. (The White House) Under Nixon, the cards were mass printed for the first time, and sent to a much broader audience of some 40,000 people - an undertaking that would have been unimaginable in Coolidge's time, when the hand-printed "Season's Greetings" message was drafted by hand with painstaking care and detail. Today, the Republican and Democratic national parties are responsible for printing the Christmas cards; as a result, the lists include (but are not limited to) party...

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