When you
get invited to the White House, you do not decline the invitation.
And St. Louisan, Ramona Jones-Williams was all too excited about
being invited to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
“font-family: Verdana;”>in the nation’s capital.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The first time, when I opened [the invitation] up I started screaming and hollering,” Jones-Williams said. “I called my husband down and was screaming up the steps ‘I’m going to the White House.’”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Jones-Williams traveled to Washington D.C. in late November as one of 136 volunteers chosen to decorate the White House for the Christmas season. She was selected through the HGTV show White House Christmas, which selects applicants to help decorate the president’s home.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“Most of the people I met had been trying for years and years,” Jones-Williams said. “I was selected on my first year.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>When Jones-Williams and her husband, Floyd Williams, Jr., watched the HGTV show last year, Jones-Williams decided that it was something she wanted to do.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I wrote in and I sent in pictures of my home,” Jones-Williams said. “I wrote to Claire McCaskill and Todd Akin to see if they would give me a recommendation.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Both Representative Akin and Senator McCaskill gave Jones-Williams a recommendation. She is no stranger to decorating for Christmas and had plenty of pictures to send to HGTV. The Williams have had 13 Christmas trees in their home for about 20 years.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“Each tree is a different theme,” Jones-Williams said. “Christmas is my favorite time of year.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Inside the White House
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The Williams flew to Washington D.C. on November 22 and spent Thanksgiving with family. The hard work began after the Thanksgiving holiday. The first two days were spent in a secret warehouse where the volunteers prepared all the materials they needed for each room of the White House they would be decorating. Jones-Williams was chosen to be one of the team leaders and helped lead in the Grand Foyer of the White House, which had four trees.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“My job was to make sure all four trees looked alike and making sure everyone had the ornaments positioned in the same position,” Jones-Williams said. “You know they’re 15 and half feet tall.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The next three days were spent in the White House actually decorating the home of the nation’s leader.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“When I first walked in the door, I was overwhelmed because my father was very big in civil rights,” Jones-Williams said. “I thought of my parents and my husband’s parents and it overwhelms you. Here you are in the White House actually walking the grounds of history.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Jones-Williams was able to see things up close and personal that people usually only see on television. She was excited to see the famous portraits of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“Especially the African Americans that were there, we all had tears in our eyes,” Jones-Williams said. “The first 15 minutes people were in the White House nothing got done.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The decorators spent those next three days working tirelessly bringing the designer’s vision and theme for the holiday, ‘Shine, Give, Share,’ to life all while being filmed for HGTV’s behind the scenes special program. Because Jones-Williams was a team leader, she was featured all throughout the program.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Jones-Williams described the Christmas decorations as cozy and homey.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The White House is like a museum, and by the time we got done it felt like a home,” Jones-Williams said. “It’s more like what you would find in your own home. There were decorations that the kids would make. It warmed up the White House.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Jones-Williams got a behind-the-scenes look at the day-to-day activities of the White House, at least as much as the secret service agents guarding the decorators would allow them to see. Jones-Williams was able to see the Obama daughters and the family dog, which roamed wherever he wanted to go. President Obama was away from the White House raising funds for his 2012 campaign while the decorators were there, but Jones-Williams got the chance the meet and have a conversation with First Lady Michelle Obama at a special reception after the White House was completely decorated. By the time of the reception, Jones-Williams and the other decorators felt comfortable just walking in and out of the White House.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“By the time my husband came for the reception, I just walked in the door and kept on walking,” Jones-Williams said, “I had to remember that he was seeing it for the first time.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Jones-Williams was so excited to meet the First Lady and was honored to speak with her.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“She’s very approachable,” Jones-Williams said. “I told her ‘People say we favor [one another]’ and she said ‘Wow, I can see it.’”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>When Jones-Williams returned home she said she just relaxed for a while.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I think I slept for the first two days,” Jones-Williams said. “The experience as a whole was a once in a lifetime experience. I’m still on Cloud 9.”
