As each year nears its end in America, we can generally expect a big spectacle in the White House as the president and first lady celebrate Christmas.
Right as December began, First Lady Melania Trump revealed this year’s decorations that were chosen according to an “America the Beautiful” theme.
And as People reported , this wasn’t the only Christmas tradition she kept up in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as she also visited Washington D.C.’s Children’s National Hospital and read a book to two children seated on the carpet in front of her.
However, that still leaves one White House holiday tradition to cross off the list and for their last year there, the Trumps did it a little differently.
On December 10, Donald and Melania Trump took their final White House Christmas photo on its grand staircase.
As The Chicago Sun Times reported , the photo was taken by the official White house photographer, Andrea Hanks, as usual.
But one way the couple broke from the tradition of previous years came in the form of the tailored tuxedo the first lady wore to match the president’s attire.
Although Trump’s tuxedo was similar to the ones seen in previous portraits at this time of year, the first lady tended to wear a dress before.
The portrait that she tweeted out in 2017 saw her clad in this sparkly black dress, while 2018 saw her wearing a longer white dress.
As The Chicago Sun-Times reported , there was no official Christmas portrait released in 2019.
As is the case for pretty much everything else in 2020, there was a lot going on in the background when this year’s photo was taken.
According to The Chicago Sun-Times , the nation has just avoided yet another government shutdown as President Trump signed a government funding bill into law.
The photo was also taken only four days before the Electoral College convened and confirmed that Joe Biden would be the 46th president of the United States.
Curiously, it seems that the Trumps’ final Christmas portrait in the White House didn’t pass without incident either.
As Salon reported , Twitter users appeared to get the impression that the portrait was cobbled together in Photoshop and suspected that Trump’s image was taken from this meeting with Prince Charles.
But while it’s hard to determine to what extent the photo was edited, a side-by-side comparison makes it unlikely that Trump’s likeness came from the Prince Charles photo.
Although Trump’s expression, tuxedo, and stance are very similar in both of them, we can see a slight difference in the angle of the shot.
It’s subtle, but his head appears to be tilted slightly downward in the Christmas portrait, which isn’t the case in the Prince Charles photo. That simple fact makes an overall difference in how his face appears between the two images.
Although it’s hard to predict how things will change over the next year, we at Diply hope it finds you safe and healthy as we celebrate the holidays yet again.