Holidays At The White House

With the holiday season in full swing, there is hardly a place where you won't find plenty of festive decorations, and that includes the White House.

Those holiday decorations were unveiled Thursday when CBS News White House Correspondent Bill Plante had a very special tour guide: first lady Laura Bush.

This is the third year she celebrates the holidays at the White House. The theme this year, she says, is "The Season of Stories."

"As an old librarian and a lifelong reader," she explains, "it was really fun to choose my favorite books."

Figures from "Alice in Wonderland" adorn the dining room table. Walking around the house she points out, "This is a great one, 'Frog and Toad.' The 'Frog and Toad' books would make really good gifts for early readers so if you have children who are in kindergarten or first and second grade at home, the 'Frog and Toad' books are easy to read and fun stories."

Another great gift for children, she says as she points to a stuffed figure, is 'Dr. Seuss: The Cat in the Hat' story books. She says, "All of Dr. Seuss' were my favorites and favorites to read to our children."

Harry Potter also has its own display. Mrs. Bush says, "I read all five 'Harry Potter' books this summer. It was fun to have a whole body of work. As soon as I finished one, I could start the other."

Mrs. Bush credits volunteers with making the house look magical. They started in June or July.

"We have decorators that come in around the country," she says, "florists who volunteer their time to put all of these ornaments up and we have the great White House staff that builds things like the unbelievable chocolate factory from 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.'"

Describing it, she says, "It shows the genius of our pastry chef. He got all of these different molds. Part of the pipe from the chocolate factory is like a dryer hose that he filled with chocolate. He made about 80 pounds of chocolate to make this great chocolate factory."

Another great edible is the gingerbread White House. She says, "It surpasses the year before and if you look close, you can see the bedroom from 'Good Night Moon,' that favorite of young children, right there in the White House. And then all of the storybook characters that stand around the gingerbread house. It will be really fun for visitors and guests to pick out their favorite characters."

Inside the White House are numerous decorated tree. The main tree is 18 1/2 foot Fraser fir from Wisconsin and it is in the Blue Room on the State Floor. It is decorated with ornaments depicting "Little Red Riding Hood" and other literary figures. The ornaments, first used by Barbara Bush in 1989, are on loan from the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M University.

Mrs. Bush says, "There are 72 of them and there is every storybook character you can think of."

Asked if she expects the president to enjoy the holidays at home, she says, "I think he'll be here this Christmas, this holiday. Something he was not able to do for Thanksgiving."

The first lady admits she was anxious about the president's top-secret holiday flight to Baghdad to meet with U.S. troops on Thanksgiving. She says, "Sure I was anxious. I also wish I would have been with him. I would have loved to be on the trip myself and see those troops."

But, she points out, she had the support of her family while the president was away. "I had my daughters with me, Barbara and Jenna, and George's parents," she says. "We had a pretty quiet Thanksgiving, but we had a really nice Thanksgiving and we watched all of the coverage on television and we were all really proud."

Looking ahead, she says she hopes to visit Afghanistan next year. "I haven't really set a date, obviously, but I've been very interested, especially in the education of girls in Afghanistan. And so I hope I'll have the opportunity to go."

She would also like to go to Iraq, she says, "I hope I have that chance someday, too. I would like to urge the people of Iraq to take this opportunity to build their country of Iraq and build it on human dignity as the president said."

Asked about her fondest wishes for herself, her family and the nation for Christmas, the first lady says, "Of course, my fondest wish is for peace, for our country and for the world and for every American for a very happy holiday season."