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CNN Saturday Morning News

First Lady Gives White House Tour

Aired December 08, 2001 - 07:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A special Christmas tour. The White House remains closed to the public, but first lady Laura Bush isn't letting that stop her from showing you how the White House has been decked out for the holidays.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Welcome to the White House, everyone.

I wanted to first point out our beautiful Christmas trees that are all over the house. There are 49 trees in the house, and this year we decorated them with snow and the icicles.

Our theme this year is "Home for the Holidays." It was a theme that I picked in July, and of course then not realizing how perfect Home for the Holidays is for this Christmas after September 11.

And here is, of course, our beautiful, beautiful tree. This year it was also decorated with homes from around the United States, and we asked artists in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., to make miniature houses that are important houses from different states.

Here from Washington is the vice president's house, which I think looks great.

The Biltmore estate is right here from North Carolina.

They're all over the tree -- houses from all over the United States.

I love this one from Arizona. A boot maker made this -- these boots covered with a mission from Nogales.

This year, the gingerbread house is the White House as it looked and as the plans were for it when John Adams, the first resident, lived here. This was before we had the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) on the front. It's well before the Truman balcony. And this is the way it looked then.

This White House was built -- the mortar is chocolate. It weighs 130 pounds.

I want to wish everyone a very, very happy and safe holiday season. I hope that all Americans will reach out to their neighbors and their friends and all the people in their community this holiday in honor of the people we lost on September 11, and spread good will and cheer everywhere. And I sincerely wish for peace on earth in the New Year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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