White House Hanukkah Party the Frontier". For two centuries after the time of the story about George Washington and Hanukkah, Christmas was the only winter religious holiday officially recognized by the White House. In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge began lighting an official White House Christmas Tree, and also delivered the first formal presidential message for the holiday. In 1927, his proclamation included the statement that, "Christmas is not a time or a season, but a state of mind". Focusing on the holiday's message, he continued, would guarantee that "there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending
Jane Pierce First Lady at a New Year's Day reception in 1855 and thereafter served as White House hostess intermittently for the remainder of her husband's term ending in 1857. She died of tuberculosis at Andover, Massachusetts, on December 2, 1863. She was buried at Old North Cemetery in Concord, New Hampshire; her husband was interred there beside her in following his death in 1869. The Pierces had three children, all of whom died young: Jane Pierce Jane Means Appleton Pierce (March 12, 1806 – December 2, 1863), wife of U.S. President Franklin Pierce, was the First Lady of the United States