It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the White House. Melania Trump and her son Barron were on hand to receive the official White House Christmas Tree this week. The US First Lady and Barron, 11, were presented with an incredible 19.5-foot tall Balsam fir, which arrived in a traditional horse-drawn carriage. A video posted on Melania's Twitter account showed a team of around ten men putting up the tree in the Blue Room. "Thank you Silent Night Evergreens in Wisconsin for our beautiful tree! @POTUS, Barron & I are excited for Christmas in our new home!" wrote Melania, 47.
Stephanie Grisham, the White House director of communications, also posted a photo of the tree and wrote: "Post #Christmas tree arrival sneak peek! #BlueRoom." The Chapman family, who provided the tree, were also invited to the White House to meet the First Lady and her son. This isn't the first time the Chapmans have had the honour of bestowing the White House with the official tree; they also supplied trees in 1998 and 2003.
Melanie and Barron received the official Christmas tree
Monday's ceremony marked a rare appearance from President Trump's son, Barron. The last time the schoolboy was pictured at his Washington D.C. home was in August, when he was spotted returning after a weekend at Camp David, the President's country retreat. Barron and his mum Melania had been living in New York when Donald was elected as the new President; the family decided that Barron should see the school year out in the Big Apple, before relocating to Washington with his mother in the summer.
Melania has previously spoken about motherhood, saying it is the "most important and joyous role" she has ever had. The former model gave a speech during a luncheon at the US Mission to the United Nations in September, and said: "The most important and joyous role I ever had is to be a mother to my young son. What could possibly be a more essential focus in everyone's life than that of loving, educating and bringing up our next generation to be happy, productive and morally responsible adults."