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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 4, 2006
President and Mrs. Bush Host Children's Holiday Reception at the White House
East Room
Holidays at the White House 2006
10:40 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming. Laura and I want to welcome you all
to the White House. We're really happy you're here. I think you're
going to really enjoy this special occasion. My job is to introduce my
wife, Laura Bush. (Laughter.) Before I do so, though, I want to say
something about your moms and dads. Thank you very much for supporting
your mom and dad as they're on a very important mission for our country.
I want you to know that they love you dearly and the American people
love and respect those who wear our uniform a lot.
I know it's tough to have your mom or dad overseas, and we wish you all
the best. But it's really important work. And so we wanted to welcome
you here to the White House to, first of all, thank you for your
strength, and so that you would do me a favor and email your mom or dad
who is overseas how much the Commander-in-Chief respects them, admires
them and supports them.
So welcome to the White House, we're glad you're here. And now I'm
going to introduce my wife, Laura Bush. (Applause.)
MRS. BUSH: Thank you very much. Thanks to each and every one of you
for coming today. As President Bush said, I know that many of you have
parents in the military, and your mom or your dad is deployed and I know
that's hard for you, especially during this time of year.
President Bush and I are proud of each and every one of you. I know that
you all support your moms and dads and you're always there for them when
they need your help, and I want to thank you all, each one of you, for
doing that.
Every year, children come to the White House for a special children's
party at Christmas. And this year, I'm so excited that each one of you
are the ones that are here with us. Today, we have a very fun
performance for you. And can you guess what it is by looking at that?
Willy Wonka. It's "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." This is a
play that will be at the Kennedy Center, will be opening at the Kennedy
Center.
Some of you may have read the book by Roald Dahl. Have you ever read
it, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"? After you see these parts
of the play, you can go home and check that book out of your library and
read it.
This is a new production that will premiere at the Kennedy Center Family
Theater, which performs plays and concerts for children. Michael
Kaiser, the president of the Kennedy Center; the director and the
composer of Willy Wonka, Graham Whitehead; and Leslie Bricusse, are all
with us today. So let's give them a big round of applause. They're
right here. (Applause.)
And now I want to introduce to you Harrison Chad, who is one of the
young actors at the Kennedy Center. He's going to come up and tell you
about what you're going to see. And then we'll have our special
performers perform some of the scenes from "Willy Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory."
Are you ready? Okay.
* * * * *
MRS. BUSH: Thank you all very, very much; that was so much fun. You
were terrific. Should we give another big hand? (Applause.) Remember
that Willy Wonka is going to open at the Kennedy Center on December 23rd
-- is that right -- and it will be there for two weeks, so if you want
to go and see the whole play, go to the Kennedy Center and see Willy
Wonka there.
Thank you all for coming. President Bush and I wish you a very, very
happy Christmas. I think we have somebody right here waiting to say
something to you -- who is it? Santa, that's right.
END 11:10 A.M. EST
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