Holiday Treats, Tales at White House

With punch, cookies and a classic holiday story, President Bush tried on Monday to give happy memories to a group of Virginia first-graders who carry with them indelible images of the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon.

The president and first lady sat side by side in wooden chairs in the White House East Room and read two books to 50 pupils from Hoffman-Boston Elementary School in Arlington, Va.

Bush read Clement C. Moore’s 1822 classic, “A Visit From St. Nicholas.” The first lady read “If You Take a Mouse to the Movies,” by Laura Numeroff, the tale of a child who did just that. (The mouse promptly developed a craving for popcorn that led him to decorate a Christmas tree.)

Hoffman-Boston Elementary is less than a mile from the Pentagon. First-graders were on the playground the morning of Sept. 11, heard the hijacked American Airlines jet hit and saw smoke from the crash, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

Among the dead was Pentagon employee Robert Hymel, husband of school Principal Beatriz Hymel.

After reading, the Bushes lingered to answer the children’s questions. Yes, they have twin daughters. Yes, he likes being the president. Yes, there is a basketball court at the White House.

“I don’t play on it very often because I’m a little old these days,” Bush said.

The president had a question for them too: “Anybody hoping for their two front teeth for Christmas?” The children just laughed.

Later Monday, Bush met with Jewish leaders and, after lighting a menorah with a group of about 10 children, held a Hanukkah reception in the White House residence.

“This house may be a temporary home for Laura and me, but it’s the people’s house and it belongs to people of all faiths,” Bush said.

Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, commemorates a Jewish uprising in 165 BC. The eight-day festival began Sunday.