This year's holidays at the White House will have a touch of Santa Fe, thanks to several members of Girls Inc. here. They made some of the ornaments that will hang on the White House Christmas tree.

All of the 20 extra-large spheres have images of New Mexico landmarks, the theme requested by the White House. So when the girls received the packages of recycled balls in late October, they got a brief state history lesson and picked topics that included the Palace of the Governors, the annual burning of Zozobra, and Roswell and its links to UFOs.

Girls Inc. of Santa Fe and another center in Georgia were the only two of the organization's 93 chapters chosen by its national office to work on the ornaments. Thirty girls ages 5 to 12, from the Hillside and Zona del Sol centers, worked in pairs on the 20 ornaments.

Kim Brown, program director for Girls Inc. here, said there was a small window of time to complete the project. "We had four days to turn them around," she said.

So the girls rolled up their sleeves and started on their decoupage projects. The White House staff mailed all the necessary supplies, except the pictures that were glued onto the ornaments.

The most exciting part of the experience will be getting to see pictures of the finished tree decorated with their own New Mexico-themed Christmas balls, several of the participants said. A Girls Inc. staff member based in Washington, D.C., will photograph the decorated tree and send pictures back to the girls, Brown said.

But what topped off the project was having fun and getting messy, said Emma Aguilar Mendoza, 9. "All the table got full of (glue)," she said. Alexandra Mendoza Ortíz, 7, said her favorite part was pasting Zozobra pictures onto the sphere.

Jasmine Alvarado, 10, said she enjoyed the teamwork and getting to work with the younger participants. Adriana Mendoza Ortíz, 9, said that if she had the opportunity, she would like to "tell the president and his family that it was very fun doing the ornaments," and that Girls Inc. "was lucky to get picked."

Marie Watson, 10, would prefer to give President Barack Obama a pat on the back. "I would like to say that even though (some) people don't like him, he made a good choice (by deciding to run for president). He's the first African American (president), and if he can make a difference, so can we."

Contact Sandra Baltazar Martínez at 986-3062 or smartinez@sfnewmexican.com.