An Andrew Jackson Christmas
During the 1835 Christmas season, President Andrew Jackson had a number of relatives visit the White House for Christmas. His wife’s niece, the niece's four children and the two children of his adopted son, Andrew Jackson, Jr., all made visited the White House for Christmas. Jackson sent invitations to the local children inviting them to an event in the East Room on Christmas Day.
On Christmas Eve, President Jackson and the White House children went on a carriage ride, delivering gifts to former First Lady Dolly Madison and Vice President Martin Van Buren. According to one story, as they rode, one of the children asked the President if he thought Santa would visit the White House. Jackson replied that they would have to wait and see and told the children of a boy he once knew who had never heard of Christmas or Santa Claus and who had never owned a single toy. The boy, he told them, never knew his father and then his mother died. After her death, he had no friends and no place to live. Jackson and the children then visited an orphanage and delivered the remaining gifts in the carriage to its residents. Years later, one of the children, Mary Donelson, said that the boy the president spoke of had been Jackson himself.
That night, the President encouraged the children to hang their Christmas stockings in his bedroom and even allowed himself to be talked into hanging his own stocking for the first time in his 68 years. Two of the children had the ingenuity to borrow the stockings of a large woman to coax some additional generosity out of Santa. On Christmas morning, the children raced into Jackson’s chamber for their presents. They each received a silver quarter, candy, nuts, cake, and fruit in addition to a small toy. The President received slippers, a corncob pipe, and a tobacco bag.
Later that day, the children who had received the White House Christmas card invitations arrived at the residence and found the East Room decorated with mistletoe and other seasonal foliage. They participated in song, games and danced throughout the afternoon. At dinnertime, the children went into the dining room two-by-two as the band played “The President’s March.” The French chef had created a remarkable feast including winter scenes filled with animals carved out of icing and confectionary sugar. Also featured were cakes shaped like apples, pears, and corn. In the center, there was a large pyramid of a pastry known as cotton “snowballs”. After dinner, the children were allowed to participate in a wild snowball fight. While some of the adults feared that the festivities were getting out of hand, President Jackson cheered them on, taking great pleasure in their youthful enthusiasm. Later, as the departing youngsters marched back across the White House lawn, Dolly Madison remarkeded that the scene reminded her of the fairy procession in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” According to the story teller, the much more austere Jackson remarked, “No, it makes me think of the words, Suffer little children to come unto Me…”
On Christmas Eve, President Jackson and the White House children went on a carriage ride, delivering gifts to former First Lady Dolly Madison and Vice President Martin Van Buren. According to one story, as they rode, one of the children asked the President if he thought Santa would visit the White House. Jackson replied that they would have to wait and see and told the children of a boy he once knew who had never heard of Christmas or Santa Claus and who had never owned a single toy. The boy, he told them, never knew his father and then his mother died. After her death, he had no friends and no place to live. Jackson and the children then visited an orphanage and delivered the remaining gifts in the carriage to its residents. Years later, one of the children, Mary Donelson, said that the boy the president spoke of had been Jackson himself.
That night, the President encouraged the children to hang their Christmas stockings in his bedroom and even allowed himself to be talked into hanging his own stocking for the first time in his 68 years. Two of the children had the ingenuity to borrow the stockings of a large woman to coax some additional generosity out of Santa. On Christmas morning, the children raced into Jackson’s chamber for their presents. They each received a silver quarter, candy, nuts, cake, and fruit in addition to a small toy. The President received slippers, a corncob pipe, and a tobacco bag.
Later that day, the children who had received the White House Christmas card invitations arrived at the residence and found the East Room decorated with mistletoe and other seasonal foliage. They participated in song, games and danced throughout the afternoon. At dinnertime, the children went into the dining room two-by-two as the band played “The President’s March.” The French chef had created a remarkable feast including winter scenes filled with animals carved out of icing and confectionary sugar. Also featured were cakes shaped like apples, pears, and corn. In the center, there was a large pyramid of a pastry known as cotton “snowballs”. After dinner, the children were allowed to participate in a wild snowball fight. While some of the adults feared that the festivities were getting out of hand, President Jackson cheered them on, taking great pleasure in their youthful enthusiasm. Later, as the departing youngsters marched back across the White House lawn, Dolly Madison remarkeded that the scene reminded her of the fairy procession in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” According to the story teller, the much more austere Jackson remarked, “No, it makes me think of the words, Suffer little children to come unto Me…”