Research by Steven L. Brawley

The White House 1961-1963

1961:

• White House Card: For the Kennedy's first official White House Christmas card, Hallmark creates a design that features a wide green silk screen band on a white stock accompanied by the official Presidential Seal and the sentiment “Season’s Greetings 1961” engraved in gold. The imprint reads: “The President and Mrs. Kennedy wish you a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.”
• White House Staff Gift: For the Kennedys’ first Christmas in the White House in 1961, they give their staff a a color photograph by Cecil Stoughton of Caroline's ducks in the fountain on the South Lawn.
• November 8: Charles O. Finley, Chairman for the National Tuberculosis Association Campaign, and Dr. Henry Stuart Willis, President of the National Tuberculosis Association, present the 1961 Christmas Seals for the National Tuberculosis Association to Jackie in the Diplomatic Reception Room, White House, Washington, D.C
• December 12: Jackie visits with children at the D. C. Children's Hospital.
• December 13: Jackie unveils her "Nutcracker Suite" themed Christmas tree featuring trimmings derived from the ballet by Tchaikovsky in the Blue Room of the White House, Washington, D.C. Jackie wears a deep pink silk dress by Bergdorf Goodman (circa 1958). President Kennedy delivers annual holiday season message to the men and women serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
• December 20: Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson lights the National Christmas tree - a 75-foot Washington state Douglas fir, initiating the first Pageant of Peace during the Kennedy administration. The President could not be present at the ceremony because his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, had recently suffered a stroke.

• December 22: Ethel Kennedy hosts a holiday party for children from St. Ann’s Infant Asylum and the D.C. Junior Village in the State Dining Room, White House, Washington, D.C.
• December 24 & 25: Kennedy family spends Christmas holiday in Palm Beach, Florida.

1962:

• White House Card: The 1962 Kennedy Christmas cards were more personal in design - featuring a black and white photograph taken by Cecil Stoughton. The image shows a snow-covered White House lawn with Jackie sitting with John Jr. in a one-horse open sleigh being led by Caroline’s pony, Macaroni. President Kennedy had almost 2,000 official White House Christmas cards produced by Hallmark with varying imprints. Most said “Christmas Greetings and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year” and included an imprint of the President’s signature. The other imprints were non-Christmas oriented and only some of these included the President’s signature imprint.
• White House Executive Staff Gift: Cabinet and executive staff members receive a red leather-bound copy of The White House, An Historic Guide, the first book published by the First Lady’s newly created White House Historical Association.
• White House Staff Gift: Edward Lehman, an advertising illustrator, was commissioned to sketch some renderings of the Jackie's restored White House rooms for a feature in the Philadelphia Bulletin. Jackie took a liking to Lehman, and at her request, he was invited back to the White House to paint a 20 x 30-inch watercolor of the Red Room for the Kennedys. The President and First Lady were so impressed with Lehman’s watercolor that they have it reproduced for their 1962 Christmas gifts to the White House staff.
• December 12: The President and First Lady unveil the White House Christmas tree featuring a "children's" theme in the Entrance Hall of the White House (the Blue Room was being renovated at the time). Jackie wears a deep pink silk dress by Givenchy (circa 1960).
• December 17:  President Kennedy lights the National Christmas tree at the Pageant of Peace. It was the only year he’d be present at the ceremony. The tree was a 72-foot blue spruce from Colorado decorated with 5,000 lights and 4,000 ornaments. With the Cuban Missile Crisis ensuing only two months prior, the President speaks of peace in his Christmas message to the American people.
• December 24 & 25: The Kennedy's spend the Christmas holiday at the Paul House in Palm Beach, Florida. Jackie gives the President a scrimshaw by Milton K. Delano. It was on the tooth of a bull whale. It took two hundred forty hours of etching, coloring and polishing to create the masterpiece. It measured a massive nine-and-a-half inches and on it was the Presidential Seal. The President loved it. Jackie had it placed in his casket.

1963:

• White House Card: The official White House Christmas cards of 1963 are never distributed. The design had already been completed and printed by Hallmark – a color photograph of the crèche in the East Room accompanied by a gold embossed Presidential Seal and the engraved message, “With our wishes for a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.” Only a few days before they flew to Dallas, the President and First Lady personally signed about 30 Christmas cards, which are perhaps the rarest Christmas cards of any President.
• White House Executive Staff Gift: Before November 22, the President and First Lady decided upon a Christmas gift to give to their Cabinet and executive staff members, which Jackie proceeded in bestowing. The executive gifts were mounted reproductions of the President’s favorite William Henry Bartlett engraving, The President’s House, From Washington, which hung in his office. Each reproduction was signed by the President and First Lady: “With deepest appreciation, John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy.” 
• White House Staff Gift: The President and First Lady were so impressed with Lehman’s watercolor of the Red Room from the year prior that Jackie personally asked him to come back to the White House in spring of 1963 to paint the newly remodeled Green Room and Blue Rooms. The Kennedys had Lehman’s Green Room watercolor reproduced for their 1963 Christmas gift prints to their staff. Jackie did give the Green Room Christmas gift prints out to the White House staff after the President’s death.
• December 6: Jackie and her children move out of the White House.
• December 14: Caroline joins her classmates in their Christmas pageant, held in the White House movie theater.
• December 22: President Johnson lights the National Christmas tree - a 71-foot Norway red spruce from West Virginia on December 22, marking the end of the 30-day mourning period after the President’s assassination. During his Christmas message to the American people, President Johnson said, “Today we come to the end of a season of great national sorrow, and to the beginning of the season of great, eternal joy. We mourn our great President, John F. Kennedy, but he would have us go on. While our spirits cannot be light, our hearts need not be heavy.”
• December 24 & 25: Jackie and her children spend the Christmas holiday at the Paul House in Palm Beach, Florida.

Image Source: Kennedy 1962 Christmas card (JFK Library)