From the White House Christmas decorations pages.
MRS. BUSH: Okay, here we are in front of the famous Christmas tree. This is the big Christmas tree in the White House, the one that's here in the Blue Room. It was given to the White House by Christmas tree growers, the Botek family from Pennsylvania. And this year we've covered it all with glass and crystal and snow and red ribbons, and I think it's absolutely beautiful this way.
There have been a lot of interesting happenings in this room and all the rooms of the White House over the many Christmases that Presidents and their families have lived here. One of the interesting Christmas occasions happened with Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, they were here in this room right after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when they went out and spoke to a crowd of about 15,000 off of the balcony that you can enter from the Blue Room here. They had moved the Christmas tree lighting to the White House lawn because they were afraid for it to be farther out because they were afraid of another attack in the United States. So the crowd stood in the dark while President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill gave a very stirring address to the nation, and they lit the American Christmas tree out on the lawn of the White House.
Chef Roland and his gingerbread creation.
Mrs. Laura Bush and White House Chef Cris Comerford, center, explain the holiday reception menu to the press in the State Dining Room.
There is a video link at the link of Laura Bush displaying and explaining the various main decorations on this page.
Laura continues: "... our chief chef, the head chef for us, [Ms.] Cris Comerford, who has done such a beautiful job for event after event. And now, today, you all will start the very first of many parties -- I think maybe 25 parties in all that the President and I will host over the whole season -- and you will get to be the first ones to see how wonderful the buffet is. Cris has come up with some regional favorites, like one of our favorites, chicken fried steak and creamed gravy, and tamales from the southwest. But then, of course, we'll have traditional ham and turkey, shrimp cocktail.
"... this gives me a chance to thank Gary Walters. This is Gary's last Christmas with us, which is sad for all of us -- he's been the chief usher for how many years?
MR. WALTERS: Twenty --
MRS. BUSH: Twenty-something years as chief usher, and been here at the White House as an usher for over 30 years, I believe. He's going to retire, and I want to thank him very, very much for his service. It's a sad time for him, I know -- sad, nostalgic, as he's overseen all of the decorations, like he's done every year for all these last years. So this gives me a chance to thank him very, very much for his service.