Holiday cheer: White House staff uses ‘creepy’ snowmen to prank Obama

PHOENIX — With just days left until the holiday season, everyone starts to get a little restless.

Children spend their school days creating crafts for loved ones, adults spend their days at holiday parties that start infiltrating the workplace and a collective sigh of relief is breathed by all.

This time of relaxation and celebration even reaches the White House, where staff played a little prank on President Barack Obama – by placing decorative snowmen in the shadows of the Oval Office.

A photo posted by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Dec 16, 2016 at 1:47pm PST

For those who don’t know, Obama is really not a fan of the snowmen decorations at the White House – even though he has dealt with them for eight years.

In an interview with People Magazine, the president said there’s a “Chucky element” to the decorative snowmen placed around the White House. First Lady Michelle even suggested “moving them in” the White House and putting one “right by his bed.”

But White House Photographer Pete Souza wrote in an Instagram post that staffers decided to move four snowmen that were on display in the Rose Garden right outside of the Oval Office windows.

We’ve been joking that we should move the snowmen a few feet closer to the Oval Office every day to see if anyone noticed. Then we realized the snowmen were too heavy to easily lift. But finally this morning before the President came to the office, some helpful staff – I won’t say who – moved all the snowmen so each one was peeking through a different window into the Oval.

While Obama may not have overcome his fears entirely, he sure got a good laugh out of the whole thing after signing some end-of-year bills.

A photo posted by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Dec 17, 2016 at 9:25am PST

Now only time will tell whether President-elect Donald Trump will be as taken aback by the decorative snowmen as Obama was.

A photo posted by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Dec 9, 2016 at 2:01pm PST