First Lady Makes Sure Festive Decor, Holiday Tunes Brighten White House

Exactly one month after the votes of 60.6 million Americans gave her a mandate to deck the White House halls for four more years, Laura Bush on Thursday showed off a holiday display depicting 13 well-known seasonal tunes, including “Frosty the Snowman” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

“I knew we were coming up to this holiday before the election,” the first lady said, “and one of the things I really thought about was: Was this going to be our last Christmas here?”

The preparations began in July, when Bush selected the theme -- “A Season of Merriment and Melody” -- to honor the musical traditions of the holiday. She led a tour Thursday through the mansion’s first-floor rooms, festooned in snow white, cranberry red and traditional gold. More than 51 volunteers had hung 245 wreaths, 221 bows and 660 feet of garland among the 41 Christmas trees.

On display in the Blue Room was the official White House Christmas tree, an 18-foot Noble fir grown and donated by John and Carol Tillman of Rochester, Wash. -- the 2004 Grand Champion Growers of the National Christmas Tree Growers Assn. The Tillmans, who also provided trees for the Oval Office and Camp David, Md., stayed in Washington this week to help decorate the tree with 350 hand-painted ornaments shaped like musical instruments, Bush said.

But, the first lady said, the decorations aren’t necessarily the season’s highlight.

“It’s the Christmas foods,” she said -- and the crowning piece of this year’s culinary display was the gingerbread replica of the White House, created by newly appointed head pastry chef Thaddeus DuBois.

Using sheets of gingerbread and 150 pounds of chocolate, he included miniatures of the Marine Corps band on the rooftop, and five vignettes of Barney, the Bushes’ Scottish terrier, playing with their pet cat, Willie. The cat, originally called India, was rechristened in 2001 after protests from that country’s ruling party.

While this holiday season is markedly more open and festive than the Bushes’ first Christmas in Washington, three months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the first lady asked that all Americans take time to acknowledge the “special burden” placed on families with members of the military overseas.

“I want all of our troops who are deployed to know ... that we’re thinking about them; we’re praying for them,” she said.

Members of military families will be among the expected 44,000 visitors to see the decorations on tours of the White House, arranged for groups of 10 or more through congressional offices. An additional 6,500 people have been invited to the White House for receptions during the holiday season.