It started with an email.
The kind you read. Then reread, just to be sure it’s real.
“I reread it several times just to make sure it was real,” she said. “My kids couldn’t contain their excitement that Mom gets to decorate the White House, and when I FaceTimed my family in St. Louis, they were screaming too. It was pure joy.”
At the time, she was on vacation with her family. No announcement. No spotlight. Just a quiet moment that suddenly changed everything.
A ‘surreal’ experience
Her name is Kimberly Adams.
She’s a stay-at-home mom raising two boys, Hudson and Grant, with her husband, Blake. Adams has called Habersham County home since 2024. Most days, her world is made up of family routines and familiar spaces; the kind of life that doesn’t ask for attention.
That’s part of what makes this story land.
“Most of the spaces I decorate are small and only seen by a few,” Adams said. “Knowing I would be helping create something the whole country would see was completely surreal.”
Chosen from among thousands
That email meant she’d been selected from over 12,000 applicants to help decorate the White House for Christmas. Only about 150 people were chosen.
When she arrived in Washington, the feeling hadn’t worn off.
Walking up the White House driveway for the first time, one question kept repeating in her mind.
“Am I really here?”
Breakfast was served in the State Dining Room. Teams were assigned. Adams joined “Team Merry,” working in the East Room and the Green Room — two spaces layered with history and meaning.
“It completely took my breath away,” she said of the East Room. “It’s the room where presidents like Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy lay in state. Standing there, decorating that room… It was humbling. I’ll never forget it.”
The work was careful and demanding. Early days moved slowly as volunteers learned the vision for each space. Then the pace picked up. Adams spent much of her time in the Green Room decorating the tree, arranging toys inside its branches, designing the domino display, and adding the finishing touches that made the room feel complete.
In the East Room, she worked with three others to create gold wreaths featuring the presidential seal, made from metal and gold leaves originally used during the Clinton administration.
“They were time-consuming and detailed,” she said. “But they turned out stunning.”
Meticulous and meaningful
What surprised her most was the amount of care the work required. The White House operates much like a museum.
“Garland couldn’t touch anything directly,” Adams explained. “Everything had to be backed with felt or plastic. The curators watched every move. It made the work harder, but it also made it feel incredibly meaningful.”
Her days started at 6:30 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m.
“I was exhausted every day,” she said, “but in the best way possible; the kind of tired that comes from doing something magical.”
The people became part of the story too. Adams formed close friendships with her teammates, including a pair of Italian twins who jokingly called her their “triplet.”
“We worked together, we laughed together, we ate dinner together,” she said. “Those friendships made the whole thing even more meaningful.”
Politics aside
She also noticed something unexpected.
“People from both Republican and Democratic backgrounds were working side by side,” Adams said. “In that place, none of that mattered. We were all focused on making the People’s House beautiful for Christmas.”
Now back home in Habersham County, the experience is still settling in.
“I keep thinking, ‘Wow, I really did that,’” she said. “It pushed me creatively in ways I didn’t expect. It made me better at what I love to do.”
Asked how she would describe the experience, Adams keeps it simple:
“Challenging. Joyful. Magical.”
