White House Christmas 2007 Reflects National Parks

First lady Laura Bush welcomed reporters to the White House's East Room Thursday, Nov. 29, to unveil this year's theme, "Holiday in the National Parks." Guests were given access to the six rooms on the State Floor, all elaborately decorated with floral arrangements, Christmas trees and amber lights.

Hundreds of individual ornaments festoon both public and private rooms, including one for each of the 391 U.S. national parks.

The official White House Christmas Tree in the Blue Room is decorated with the majority of the handmade ornaments depicting national parks and monuments. Each ornament on the 18-foot Fraser fir was designed by an artist selected by the park, Bush said.

Holiday decorations include a model of North Carolina's Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and a painting of Arizona's Grand Canyon National Park.

The State Dining Room featured a buffet of food like those that will be served over the holiday season to thousands of guests at White House parties.

Some Bush Texas favorites: handmade tamales and chicken-fried steak fingers. These will be matched with traditional dishes, including bourbon-glazed Virginia ham and roasted lamb chops.

A white-chocolate gingerbread White House that took nearly three months to create features Bush family pets and animals found in national parks. A towering lemon meringue pie cake tree will be served for dessert, along with the famous Barney and Miss Beazley cookies, named after the first pets.

Over 20 days, the Bush family will entertain 20,000 guests at receptions and parties, said White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford.

About 60,000 tourists will also visit the White House between now and Christmas.

HGTV will air its annual holiday special, featuring a visit with the first family in White House Christmas 2007", premiering 8:30 pm e/p, Dec. 16. The half-hour program takes viewers inside the president's residence to see how dozens of decorators, bakers and volunteers bedeck the "people's house" for the holidays.

Bush and chief florist Nancy Clarke collaborate each year on potential themes and decoration possibilities, but it is up to the first lady to choose what the White House will look like during Christmas. Clarke said Bush suggested the park theme.

The first lady has a particular fondness for national parks. Every year, Bush and her closest friends hike in at least one national park, Clarke said.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)