By Jura Koncius
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 4, 2008

The LED lights on the star-spangled trees sparkled and first lady Laura Bush's eyes glistened as she unveiled the 2008 White House holiday decorations yesterday in the East Room.

"Well, this is our last year here," Mrs. Bush, wearing a red Oscar de la Renta wool suit and pearl earrings, told reporters and photographers gathered for the traditional holiday preview. "And so it'll be the people, of course, that we'll miss the most," she said, hugging chief florist Nancy Clarke and thanking the butlers she met in 1989 when her father-in-law was inaugurated. "I also was able to assure Mrs. Obama that they'll be waiting there to welcome them and that they'll welcome them and take care of them, just like they've taken care of us and all the presidents that have come before us."

Next year, she joked, she'll be on her own for the holidays; Mrs. Bush said she and the president intend to settle in Dallas after the moving vans come Jan. 20.

Traditionally at this event, the first lady introduces the artist of the official White House Christmas card and the artisanal cheeses to be served at official holiday receptions. Yesterday's media preview became a prolonged sentimental farewell.

After describing this year's official patriotic holiday theme -- "A Red, White and Blue Christmas" -- the first lady lingered over reporters' questions. She touched on the lives of other families who have occupied the historic rooms, and provided some insider information about the post-election day when the Obamas came to call.

"There was something actually very nostalgic about having Mrs. Obama come," Laura Bush said. She recalled a feature of the house that Hillary Clinton had pointed out to her, when she visited the White House as the first lady-elect.

"There's a window upstairs in the first lady's dressing room that I also use as an office -- I have a desk in there. And when I toured with Mrs. Clinton, she said, 'Look out this window and you can see the Rose Garden and you can look right over and see the Oval Office.' " The window had been pointed out to Hillary Clinton by Barbara Bush. "And so I told that to Mrs. Obama -- to look out that window and be able to look over at the Oval Office. And then I told her she could tell that to the next person that followed her."

After the Oval Office formalities that day, she said, her husband gave President-elect Barack Obama a tour of what would be his daughters' rooms plus his own closet and his bathroom. "And then they rushed upstairs to look at the gym," she recalled. "There's a great tradition of transition in the United States."

But it was when Bush brought up the chief florist, who works so closely with her on the annual holiday decoration extravaganza, that both she and Clarke got a little misty-eyed.

"When we first came here in January 1989 with President Bush, George's dad, the little girls, little Barbara and Jenna, who were 7, watched the parade from this inaugural parade stand that you see being built in front of the White House now." After withstanding 102 parade groups, the girls came inside. "Nancy was the one that met them at the door, and she took them to the flower shop and let them make a bouquet for their rooms."

She was clearly wistful about the end of her time at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and talked extensively about the human dramas that have been played out there. "We're very aware of all the presidents before us, and we're aware of the challenges that they faced when they lived here, and the challenges and tragedies in many cases that their families faced while they were here," she said. She and the president think most often of Abraham Lincoln, dealing with "a country at war with itself" and the death of a son.

She said leaving such historic rooms elicited "mixed emotions. Sad to leave all the people I like so much and have built friendships with and sad to leave this beautiful house."

And then she was gone, leaving the media to meander through the glittering main floor and eat their way through the lobster salad, cheesy stone-ground grits and red, white and blue star-shaped cookies in the State Dining Room.

The decorations themselves were somewhat subdued. Red balls, pine cones, bunting and snow dot the 27 trees. Pots of red tulips decorate mantels. Some decorations are recycled from Christmases past. Miniature reproductions of presidents' homes from 2001 were dusted off from storage. The 2007 ornaments featuring national parks hang on a tree in the Oval Office. The gingerbread house was a minimalist masterpiece this year, with its exterior carved from 350 pounds of white chocolate, along with a few embellishments. In the Green Room, chunky silver eagles hung from the garland draping the mantel. The Bushes are scheduled to host 25 holiday receptions this month, while the kitchen churns out 250 coconut cakes and 22,000 holiday cookies.

The Bushes have brought new traditions to Christmas at the White House. When the attacks of Sept. 11 made no-reservation public tours a security risk, they introduced Barney Cam, a virtual tour of the holiday decorations by the Bushes' camera-loving Scottish terrier. (The 2008 Barney Cam will debut Dec. 15.) They started the tradition of hosting an annual Hanukkah party with kosher food, according to Sally McDonough, Laura Bush's press secretary. In 2003, they featured the Office of Management and Budget director and the Treasury secretary reading children's holiday books on whitehouse.gov.

The Bushes will spend Christmas at Camp David this year, as they have every year of George Bush's presidency and also the four years of his father's. The first lady said the entire Bush clan is expected to gather, including former first lady Barbara Bush, who was released from the hospital Tuesday after ulcer surgery. "It's our 12th year at Camp David, for Christmas," she said, displaying a bit of the Bush family pride. "So I'm sure we've got the record that will never be broken."

Next year, the Bushes won't have a pastry staff to bake cookies in the shapes of Barney, Miss Beazley and Kitty or an in-house flower studio to create a winter wonderland in their home. And when asked what she would be getting the president for Christmas, she said it would not be a year of abbondanza under the tree. "We will be moving to Dallas in January," said the first lady. "So I think that's where we'll spend our money -- right at real estate time."

And would she miss the tiers of red velvet cupcakes and the string quartets, the 49 spruce trees dusted with 800 pounds of artificial snow, and the solemn portrait of Lincoln looking over the buffet in the State Dining Room?

"It's the end of eight years and it's time to move on," said Mrs. Bush. She said she was looking forward to "the afterlife, as I've been calling it." She added, "Obviously, it won't be quite as elaborate. I might be doing the cooking myself."