This year’s White House ornament honors the presidency of my favorite First Couple. It was during his administration that the White House Christmas tree tradition began. The White House Historical Association does a great job of telling the story of the first Christmas tree. (http://www.whitehousehistory.org/a-coolidge-christmas?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Tree+Lighting).
Christmas 1923 was a very happy time for the Coolidge family. Calvin Coolidge, a Phi Gamma Delta from Amherst College, and his wife Grace, a charter member of the Pi Beta Phi chapter at the University of Vermont, were the parents of two young men who were enrolled at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania.
Grace Coolidge and Santa Claus. Photo by Harris & Ewing, photographer, courtesy of the Library of Congress
That Christmas of 1923 would be the last Christmas the four of them would celebrate together. Calvin, Jr., the younger son would be gone by Christmas 1924, dying of blood poisoning from a blister on his foot.
© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2015. All rights reserved. If you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/
