Christmas at the Mansion recognizes Mississippi’s rising academic scores
First Lady Elee Reeves also says response from school groups wanting to tour the historic residence has been overwhelming
JACKSON, MISS. (WCBI) – The theme for this year’s Christmas at the Mansion is “A Season of Success.”
“We are celebrating our kids and all of our educational gains,” said Mississippi First Lady Elee Reeves.
There are ten Christmas trees throughout the mansion, and each room has a theme. Madden Gray owns MG and Company in Philadelphia. His proposal for this year’s Christmas at the Mansion was chosen by the First Lady and her team. Gray and his team got to work the Friday after Thanksgiving.
“It is such an honor, not everyone gets to do this, so to be able to make it special, every ribbon cut perfectly and every ornament hung perfectly, I wanted to make sure it was perfect for everyone to see,” Gray said.
The First Lady also asked for ornaments from students and schools.
“It has been so fun because some schools sent in ornaments, like colleges and junior colleges, and we also had students send in ornaments and works of art,” Elee Reeves said.
Public tours are one of the highlights, and when it came time to schedule tours for school-age children, the response was overwhelming.
“We were really excited to offer special days, school days. We originally thought we would do two. Now we have expanded to seven because we had so much interest. We have kids coming up from Delta, from the coast, they are coming from all over. Not only will they see the decorations, but also get a little bit of history too, touring the historic house,” Reeves said.
And those ornaments and other works of art sent in this year will be used in the future to create more magical Christmas decorations at the historic residence.
The decorations will be up through the first week in January.
