National parks are White House holiday theme

REGION — First Lady Laura Bush has announced the White House 2007 holiday theme as “Holiday in the National Parks.”

The official White House Christmas Tree, an 18-foot Fraser fir from Mistletoe Meadows Christmas Tree Farm in Laurel Springs, NC, is adorned with ornaments representing America’s national parks. Each ornament reflects the diversity of our national landscapes and the many wonderful and unique treasures found from sea to shining sea.

When asked to paint an ornament representing the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, artist Audrey Hauser McCullough chose the confluence of the Lackawaxan and Delaware rivers, depicting the Roebling Bridge, the Zane Grey museum and America’s national symbol, the bald eagle, flying overhead.

McCullough is a member of the International Porcelain Artists Association, and her work has twice been selected for exhibit at the World Organization of China Painters Museum at Oklahoma City,OK. She mentors artists with skills from beginner through advanced.

Raised in Callicoon Center, NY, Audrey now lives in Kingston, NY. She frequently returns to the Upper Delaware River valley to visit her daughter and family.

More than 60,000 people will visit the White House to tour the holiday decorations. Tour requests can be submitted through members of Congress. Each guest visiting the White House will receive a holiday booklet illustrated by Michael Glenn Monroe from Brighton, Michigan.

For more information on how to tour the White House, visit whitehouse.gov/holiday/2007.

An exhibit featuring prototypes of the ornaments can be viewed at the National Park Service Information Center, 37 Main Street, Narrowsburg, NY.