CHARLESTON, W.Va.—- First Lady Cathy Justice’s 2024 Limited Edition Christmas Ornament commemorate the eight years Jim Justice has been the state’s governor while also highlighting the amazing dome on the West Virginia State Capitol building.
Cathy Justice reveals 2024 Christmas Ornament
Cathy Justice, along with Governor Jim Justice and History Curator Randall Reid-Smith revealed the design during a celebration at the West Virginia Culture Center.
“We tried to make this kind of a culmination of the eight years,” Cathy Justice said at the celebration. “The capitol is such a beautiful building, the dome is just wonderful, it’s just really been refinished and redone.”
The dome was redone after extensive damage was found in 2015. The restoration project was ordered by Governor Jim Justice in 2018, to help reinforce the dome’s structural integrity and restored its historic appearance and was completed in 2021.
She said a lot of thought went into the design and overall look of the ornament.
“A lot of time went into this ornament, we actually start in July each year, our thoughts about it” she said. “And we’ve put a lot of thought into this ornament.”
The dome may be front and center of the design, but Babydog and the West Virginia state flag are also included in the design. Cathy Justice said they wanted to include Babydog because she had become an integral part of Governor Justice’s tenure as governor.
And if you turn the ornament around, people will be able to see all three of their signatures, Cathy’s, the governor’s and even Babydog, along with the years that Justice has been governor.
She also pointed out that if anyone visits West Virginia around Christmas time, they can feel the holiday spirit, in fact the Governor’s mansion is already decorated for Christmas.
“If they’ll come here for Christmas, they’ll see all of the mountain spirit,” she said. “We have so many handcrafted ornaments that people have submitted, it’s their true heart and what they believe.”
Even at the Culture center, they had Christmas trees up with homemade ornaments from students across West Virginia and a display of nutcrackers.
The ornament is available at the gift shop in the Culture Center Tuesday and Wednesday for $20. It will come in a box with a history of the capitol building and the dome.