the Imperial Presidency:

‘Small army of White House minions takes four days at height of economic crisis……..
He may have suffered a blow after being forced to compromise with the Republican party over tax cuts but President Obama has not let the setback affect his Christmas.
A new time-lapse video released by the White House reveals the sheer scale of the operation to erect the official Christmas Tree of the First Family with hundreds of workers visible as the Douglas fir begins to take shape.
Grown in Pennsylvania, the tree – which is eighteen-and-a-half feet high and nearly 13ft wide – was received by Michelle Obama and her daughters Sasha and Malia last week and took four-and-a-half days to be decorated…’