Snow people, snowflakes star in White House holiday decor

WASHINGTON – New at the White House this holiday season: penguins, snowmen and snow women, and hanging snowflakes.

Returning this season: larger-than-life replicas of dogs Bo and Sunny, an 18 1/2-foot Blue Room tree dedicated to military families, and a gingerbread White House – covered in dark chocolate and weighing in at nearly 500 pounds.

President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, expect to welcome more than 68,000 guests the weeks before Christmas.

They’ll be greeted at the East Wing entrance by a family of plywood penguins before walking down a hallway with paper snowflakes hanging overhead. There’s one snowflake for each state and U.S. territory, along with others made by local schoolchildren who adorned them with handwritten wishes.

Outside the hallway windows, 56 snowmen and women look on from the first lady’s garden.

The first lady unveiled the decorations Wednesday, giving military families the first peek.