[MUSIC - "WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS"]
NARRATOR: 55 trees, 30,000 lights, 13,000 ornaments,
1,000 poinsettias, and over 8,000 feet of garland--
this is Christmas at Biltmore.
Elizabeth Borchers is the Biltmore floral manager,
and together with her team of 10 full-time
and 17 part-time designers, along with most
every other employee throughout the estate,
the season comes alive here at Biltmore.
Borchers takes us on a tour of her favorite rooms.
ELIZABETH BORCHERS: As guests arrive,
the entry hall and the tree under the grand staircase
are decorated with elements that you'll find out on the estate--
grapevine balls, antlers, turkey feathers.
One of my favorite things just driving around the estate
is how you'll see all those animals, especially
early in the morning or late in the day--
the turkeys and the deer.
We've added a gilded element to all those natural pieces
to just tie in to the Gilded Age under our theme.
[MUSIC - "DECK THE HALLS"
To me, the banquet hall is, definitely, I think,
the most special room when it comes
to Christmastime because we do know
this is where that George was celebrating.
This is the first year that the room has been
decorated in shades of blue.
We intentionally wanted to pull out
the colors in the tapestries.
And that's really the No.
1 comment as guests come in-- is they say, oh my goodness.
Look how it matches the tapestries.
And you notice those even more, and they're
such a beautiful piece in this room--
so to kind of highlight those with something
neat to do this year.
And it's something different.
The banquet hall tree is the only fresh tree in the house.
And it is the last one to come in.
And we are now in the tapestry gallery
under the umbrella of our overall theme of Vanderbilt
Family Christmas.
The theme in here is Heaven and Nature Sing,
kind of a combination of both the Gilded Age, which,
you know, was the era that the Vanderbilt family name really
became big, along with the nature
and the outdoors that is such a big part of the experience
of here on the estate.
There's lots of gilded twig branches
and pine cones, feathers.
You also see gold cherubs and angels on this tree as well.
This room is also where the nativity scene is every year.
We are now in the library.
A lot of guests-- this is their favorite room.
The designer who decorated this room
was really inspired both by George Vanderbilt's travels
as well as just by the books of adventure and travel
that are here in this room, authors like Jules Verne
or H.G. Wells.
There's things like hot air balloons
and trains, astronomy-related ornaments all on this tree.
There's Chinese fans on this tree.
There's a lot of Oriental touches.
George did travel to the Orient to Japan,
you know, which even reflects the Ming fishbowls that
are in this room, which are a lot of guests' favorite.
I think this particular room does a really great job of kind
of, like, simplifying something that
really represents a Vanderbilt Christmas and George himself.
[MUSIC - "JOY TO THE WORLD"]
NARRATOR: From the 35-foot-tall Fraser
fir in the banquet hall to the opening
of the house in the evening, it's
very important that George Vanderbilt's vision
is continued to be honored.
And one of the most special traditions
happens during this season.
ELIZABETH BORCHERS: The estate today is still owned and run
by descendants of George and Edith Vanderbilt. They have
done a really great job of carrying on,
really, a tradition that George himself started
of celebrating Christmas with all of his employees.
Edith would personally pick out gifts
for each of the children of all the employees.
We have a gift-wrapping station that we set up
each year in one of the tower rooms
because we know that that is where Edith wrapped
each gift for the children.
And so this, you know--
even now, we still have a Christmas party,
where gifts are purchased for all of the employees' children.
And all the employees get to come and celebrate
Christmas with the family and in the house, which is just
something very special and neat that we carry that on from way
back then.
NARRATOR: Whether it's employees and their families or visitors
from all over the world, Christmas at the Biltmore
is breathtakingly special.
[MUSIC - "GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN"