WASHINGTON, D.C. – Every year, around this time, people from all over the United States are brought to Washington, D.C., to decorate the most important building in the nation.

This year, one of those people is Illinois florist Dawn Ahner.

“There were thousands of people that applied for it, and I was a lucky one to be selected,” Ahner, owner of Ahner’s Florist and Greenhouses in New Baden, said.

She will help decorate the White House for the holidays along with hundreds of others.

“When I opened my email, I was thrilled to see it—I had been accepted—(my family) were all thrilled. We were jumping up and down,” she said.

She is considering using popular flowers like poinsettias and garlands, ensuring details are sketched out ahead of time.

“When I go to the market, I scout out the best, neatest things that we can possibly do. I may find one thing that’s an inspiration, it could be a ribbon or an ornament, and then I take that inspiration and I just run with it,” Ahner added.

She will head to the nation’s capitol before Thanksgiving, where she will find out the specific section of the White House she will decorate for one week.

“(The White House) is such an iconic, historical building. To think the people that walked through the halls and just the whole symbol that it does for our nation is pretty special,” Ahner said.