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WASHINGTON – Five-year-old Vivek Vance asked for "a really skinny tree" on an upstairs floor of the vice-presidential residence. And his parents, Usha and JD, gave him his minimalist holiday wish – for the most part.
Usha says their son favored a tree "that leaned" and had bare spots. But the Vances came to a family compromise. "It’s kind of in that vein," Usha told USA TODAY of the tree. "But a little bit less sad than some of the ones he wanted."
Of course, there are three grander trees on the ground floor of the house that guests see. But for the family quarters, there's the Charlie Brown-style Christmas tree.
And so goes the holiday decision-making at the Vances' palatial Naval Observatory residence in Washington. Like with any American family, there's give and take in the decorations.
Usha Vance isn’t used to showing off her holiday trimmings. But this year, as second lady, she opens up her Washington home and offers a tour of the first floor on a Monday morning, Dec. 8, after her husband and children have left for the day.
JD Vance was the third-youngest vice president when he was sworn in, making the couple’s children – Ewan, 8, Vivek, 5, and Mirabel, 3 – the youngest children of a vice president ever to live in the mansion.
It’s the young family's first Christmas at the vice presidential residence at the Naval Observatory, which is decked out with garlands, ornaments and bows.
“We're not normally intense tinsel and frosted trees people, but it's fun for this year,” Usha Vance, 39, said in an interview with USA TODAY.
A large white tent out front, where the family is entertaining this season, features framed photos of some of the house’s former residents, part of this year’s “Golden Noel” theme, paying tribute to 50 years of Christmases at the vice presidential residence. Some of the images are from scrapbooks left behind by former vice presidents. Others are from the Library of Congress.
The Mondales were the first vice presidential family to live in the 33-room Queen Anne home located about 2.5 miles from the White House and near many of the capital city's embassies and ambassadors' residences. Although the first Christmas celebration at the residence took place when Nelson Rockefeller was in office in 1975, and this year’s theme is a throwback to both, Usha Vance says. “It’s a little bit of a vintage Christmas,” she adds.
The display took months to plan. It began with mood boards and concepts. Then the construction involved artists and volunteers who put it all together while the family was out of the house, Vance says of the elaborate design process that began over the summer.
In the area open to party and dinner guests, three trees from Evergreen Acres, Pennsylvania, the runners-up in this year’s National Christmas Tree Association contest, dot the sunroom, living room and dining room on the ground floor.
A rare interview with Usha Vance and tour of the vice presidential residence
The Vance family has lived in the residence in northwest Washington since the day after the president's inauguration on Jan. 20. In their spare time, they spent the first 10 months turning the house into a home.
Above the fireplace in the dining room, a painting commissioned by the Delaware-based artist Allison Cosmos hangs on the wall. It features a bluejay, a nod to the second lady. There's also a ring-necked pheasant and a Monarch butterfly, a favorite of their son Vivek. And a California quail, a symbol of strong family bonds.
There's a Rothko on loan from the Smithsonian.
They built a treehouse for their children. Usha says the play area has been insulated in a way that would allow it to be repurposed for adults as a workspace.
They’ve built a storage shed, which resembles the house. The family uses it for bikes and family woodworking, she says. Inside, they’ve added a pantry for storing snacks and lunchbox supplies.
“We never actually saw it before arriving, and we didn't really have a sense of what it would be like, but there are obvious safety considerations,” she said of their childproofing. “There's a pool outside, so we wanted to make sure that it was set up in a way where the kids couldn't just run out and fall in.”
The Vances sold their residence in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia, where they lived while JD Vance was a U.S. senator representing Ohio. They still own a house in Cincinnati, which they sometimes visit.
In Washington, the 12-acre compound set back from the road on roughly 72 acres of land is their primary residence for now, and Usha says they're still putting the finishing touches on decorations, such as stockings, in their living space. A tree they cut down as a family in Lexington, Kentucky, graces the family's quarters, per Vivek's wishes.
The family does not plan to spend Christmas Day on the property, Usha said. They typically visit her parents, sister, and brother-in-law in Southern California. Thanksgiving is usually spent with her husband’s family in Ohio.
Usha is the first Indian American second lady and was raised Hindu, but said in the interview that she always celebrated Christmas and exchanged gifts with her friends. She said it was important to her father that they spend time in this season thinking about the religious significance of the holiday.
“We'd read from the Bible and think about the Christmas story, or we would do things that emphasize the spirit of giving and service to other people, like volunteer,” she said. “It wasn't like a purely secular experience of Christmas, but it also wasn't our religious tradition.”
Her husband is a Christian who converted to Catholicism in 2019, after they were already married. She's said in the past that she does not plan to convert. Their oldest son, Ewan, chose to be baptized in 2024.
That was also the year he decided that he no longer believed in Santa. He told his class that St. Nick isn’t real, Usha says.
"But it went all right because the other kids who were still Santa believers basically argued him down, so it didn't really have the effect that he intended," the second lady said.
Their 5-year-old, Vivek, has basically figured it out, because their eldest “has a big mouth,” she said, while their 3-year-old, Mirabel, is still pretty oblivious. “She's still in on it," the second lady says.
Until recently, her children’s favorite holiday film was “The Nightmare Before Christmas” by Tim Burton. “They were a little bit obsessed with that,” she said, calling the film that bridges Halloween and Christmas “a little bit deranged.” They’ve since moved on to “The Grinch.” The original version. She says she hasn’t seen the Jim Carrey one.
“It’s their favorite probably because it's my favorite,” she says.
The children are increasingly into ice skating, Usha says, and are taking lessons at the rink on the National Mall. Vivek likes the holiday opera, and they plan to go again.
“We have to sprinkle them in between all the parties and official engagements,” Usha says.
The second lady says she's holding nine receptions the week of Dec. 8 alone, including one on Tuesday that President Donald Trump planned to attend. She hosted three or four parties in the previous week.
She’s lost count.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Usha Vance shares holiday decor, reveals if her kids believe in Santa
Reporting by Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
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