Scheib said that the staff used to joke during the holidays about "White House flextime" - when "you can work any 100 hours you want this week."
As far back as October, pastry chef Bill Yosses' team was plotting strategy and going over drawings for this year's gingerbread house - a 390-pound behemoth, the construction of which required the use of a band saw. Before Halloween, Yosses already was joking about doing "mental push-ups" to prepare for the coming holiday season.
Yosses' shop stockpiles mounds of cookie dough in the freezer to keep up with the daily demand for holiday sweets.
His rule of thumb for receptions: four bite-size dessert items per guest. (Some of which are discreetly slipped into purses and go home as souvenirs.)
This year's menu for the White House dessert buffet table: lemon layer cake, brownies, assorted cookies, pecan pralines, pumpkin pie, chocolate truffles, and more.
Roland Mesnier, one of Yosses' predecessors, said that he always tried to sock away enough dough for 120,000 cookies and sweets by Dec. 1.
"If I did not have that, I would be in trouble," Mesnier said.
Michelle and Barack Obama, meanwhile, might want to stockpile hand sanitizer: There's a whole lot of handshaking going on at all those parties and receptions - although White House aides say that the Obamas are doing away with formal receiving lines and posed photos with each guest at some events to accommodate more people.
