Higgins's first presidential celebrations at Áras

MICHAEL D Higgins will be spending his first Christmas as President with his family in Áras an Uachtaráin.

The house is now heaving with festive decorations and on Thursday night, President Higgins switched on the lights on the big Christmas tree outside the Áras.

Meanwhile, Leinster House has five Christmas trees – one outside on the lawn, one in the foyer, another downstairs in the coffee dock area of the Leinster House 2000 annex and one each for the self-service restaurant and the members’ restaurant.

There doesn’t appear to be any official theme for the festivities on Kildare Street, apart from “shut up and sit down”. This is in contrast to the White House, where the theme for the holiday season is “Shine, Give, Share”. This year’s official tour features 37 Christmas trees – 30 are natural trees and seven are made from paper, felt or aluminium.

There is a gingerbread model of the White House made of 400lb of gingerbread, white chocolate and marzipan, along with five representations of the first dog, Bo Obama.

It will be the new year before Michael D and his wife, Sabina, take delivery of their Bernese Mountain puppy. That should give them plenty of time to start working on confectionary models of the first dog for Christmas 2012.