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Michelle Obama

W.H. Christmas decorations include giant replicas of First Dogs

Eliza Collins
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The White House Christmas decor includes giant replicas of the First Dogs — Bo and Sunny — made out of 25,000 yarn pom poms and they have their own tower of presents, including lots of tennis balls.

And the famous White House gingerbread house sitting in the State Dining Room weighs more than 300 pounds.

The fluffy dogs and cookie house — which includes 20 pounds of icing alone — are part of the First Lady’s annual Christmas decorations, which went public Tuesday.

The White House decorations, which USA TODAY previewed Tuesday, were put up by 92 volunteers chosen from around the country over the last few days.

Larger than life replicas of Bo and Sunny, made with more than 25,000 yarn pom-poms, are displayed in the East Wing Hallway of the White House during a preview of the 2016 holiday decor at the White House Nov. 29, 2016, in Washington.

“This is the culmination of four days of holiday decorating,” said Christine Framstad, a volunteer from Clifton, Va. “I applied and to my great surprise I was selected to be one of the volunteers this year. This is my first time ever doing this.”

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“It was just an amazing experience. The people that came to help do this came from all over the country. Amazing people with just amazing stories and just wanting to, you know, put their time and talents in to creating such a memory,” Framstad continued.

This year’s theme is “The Gift of the Holidays” includes a massive number of ribbons — 7,500 strands in the East Colonnade and 8.000 bows and ribbons in the East Hallway alone.

The Christmas tree in the White House’s “blue room” is 19 feet tall and came from a farm Pennsylvania. The ornaments on the tree were donated by U.S. citizens and military service members overseas.

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