How would one feel if the warmth of a Christmas at home was replaced with the unfamiliarity of a holiday season spent at the White House? For one Levittown man, this became a reality in the 1970s.

Born in Queens, Frank Lazzaro attended Richmond Hills High School and upon graduation, volunteered for the Army. While enlisted, he served as the supervisor of medical supplies in Womack Army Hospital at Fort Bragg, NC. It was there that he had his first decorating experience.

"Our commanding officer chose me to decorate the Christmas tree," Lazzaro recalled. "He didn't give me anything to decorate with, so I had to improvise. I hung beer cans from the branches and threw some Army issued green socks on it to add color."

Not long after, Lazzaro came across a magazine article in which former First Lady Betty Ford was seeking advice for her own tree decorating. He jokingly replied to it with a picture of the barrack's tree and a short letter. Some time passed and eventually Lazzaro received his honorable discharge and returned home to Queens. What happened next was completely unexpected, Lazzaro recalled.

The call came from Rusty Young, the chief White House floral decorator, and requested Lazzaro's presence for an interview in Washington.

"I was shocked and ready to faint," Lazzaro said. "I never thought in a million years that they would call me."

After the interview and a background check, he officially became the White House Christmas decorator. He was brought back for 12 years by three different administrations from 1974 until 1986. His said his proudest moment came when he was given permission to decorate the Oval Office.

"My record was as clean as a whistle, so they granted me access to the office," he added. "The whole time I was in there, I pictured JFK and FDR walking the same paces that I was."

In the office, Lazzaro designed floral arrangements, which sat on each side of the President's desk, right in front of the two flags that could be seen during the leader's public addresses. Lazzaro also created table arrangements for various spots around the White House and, of course, decorated the Christmas tree every year, which was placed in the Blue Room. During Ronald Reagan's first term, the Smithsonian Institute loaned antique wooden train sets to the White House that were built during Abraham Lincoln's presidency. Lazzaro was given the frightening task of reassembling the fragile trains and setting them up underneath the 25 foot Christmas tree.

"That was my favorite Christmas moment," Lazzaro said. "I touched something that Abraham Lincoln touched and there was something really honorable about it."

Lazzaro's final Christmas in Washington came in 1986 and according to him, it was a double-edged sword of relief and sadness.

"I was tired," he said. "I had opened three of my own flower shops on Long Island and the country was headed into another recession. I feared for my own financial security as well as that of the 14 employees I had. The White House was added stress that I did not need."

The recession eventually forced Lazzaro to shut down his business. He began selling floral arrangements at local flea markets. The financial crisis, however, did not steal his love for the craft he had practiced for so many years. He continued to appear at clubs all around New York and give seminars on decorating.

Frank eventually found his second calling as a counselor for developmentally disabled adults at AHRC in Wantagh. Although he still looks at the past longingly from time to time, he keeps things in perspective and remembers his own words, "Life is a parade and you must march along with it."