Holiday Break

Carter snaps his collarbone

The Christmas holiday started happily for the Carters. WE STILL LOVE YOU, JIMMY said signs held by several people in the crowd of a thousand who greeted the President and his wife at Robins Air Force Base near Macon, Ga. At Plains, they received an even warmer welcome from some 200 friends and neighbors. A boy gave Carter a Christmas tree ornament--a glass mouse. Several women kissed him. Then, grinning shyly and wiping lipstick from his cheek, Jimmy took Rosalynn's hand and they walked up the drive to their home.

For their last Christmas as President and First Lady, the Carters followed family holiday tradition. They cut their own tree in nearby woods, carried it home and decorated it. They spent part of Christmas Day with Miss Lillian, who is recuperating from a broken hip, and they had a big family breakfast and opened their gifts.

Next day, Jimmy and Rosalynn flew north for one of their last weekends at Camp David. The following morning brought perfect, crisp weather for their two-year-old passion, cross-country skiing, a sport in which the President has become quite proficient.

Then, gliding down a slope through hickory and oak trees with Rosalynn, Carter caught a ski on a rock and tumbled, landing on his left elbow and shoulder. In considerable pain, he was flown by helicopter to Bethesda Naval Hospital outside Washington, where an X ray showed that he had broken his left collarbone. Treated with painkillers, and his arm in a sling, the President flew back to Camp David to finish the weekend in less energetic fashion. Still, he planned to go to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl game on New Year's Day, as the final weeks of his presidency dwindled down.

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