Washington Gingerbread

There is a creche in the East Room, and the White House halls are decked with boughs of holly--not to mention thousands of massed poinsettias, hundreds of velvet bows, swags of greenery, four 50-inch wreaths and doubtless, somewhere in all the profusion, a pear tree complete with partridge (stuffed). The Sunday worship service over the holidays will be led by six teenage sons and daughters of presidential staff members, backed by the Columbus Boychoir from Princeton, NJ. At a dozen major holiday parties, a dozen smaller ones, and three candlelight tours, a Pat Nixon innovation, the Nixons will open the White House to more than 20,000 visitors.

The staff, which gets a party of its own, is beginning to flag a bit. "When the President gets going on Christmas," sighs one weary aide, "there's no stopping him." Well, not quite. When Mrs. Nixon was showing her husband all the preparations, the President tried to break off and eat a piece of a huge gingerbread house put together by Assistant Chef Hans Raffert for the State Dining Room. Said Pat: "Don't you dare!" (He didn't.) Since Nixon does not enjoy carving, the Christmas turkey will arrive at his table presliced.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.