WORLD> America
12 days of Xmas for Bushes at Camp David
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-26 07:52

US President George W. Bush is spending Christmas at Camp David, the 12th time he and his family have celebrated the Yuletide holiday at the Maryland presidential retreat.

Bush's parents, former president George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, along with the president's siblings and their families also were marking the occasion at Camp David, as were the president's twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, and Jenna's husband, Henry Hager, the White House said on Wednesday.

Bush and his wife, Laura, now have spent a dozen Christmases at Camp David - every year during Bush's eight-year presidency and four times during his father's time in the Oval Office from 1989-93.

Their Christmas Day menu is traditional: roast turkey with cornbread dressing, green beans, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes with giblet gravy, spinach salad, cranberry sauce, rolls, and pumpkin pie and pecan pie for dessert.

Bush spent part of Christmas Eve morning phoning US troops stationed around the world. The president called nine members of the armed forces to wish them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and to thank them for their service, White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

Perino said the president asked each one to pass holiday wishes from him and Mrs Bush to other troops serving with them. He thanked the members for their "continued sacrifices that they are making in serving our country overseas, and away from family."

He especially congratulated Special Marcus T. Brown, now stationed in Baghdad, for being awarded the Bronze Star during combat operations in Iraq.

Pardon rescinded

Bush on Wednesday rescinded his pardon announced a day earlier of a New York real estate developer, the White House said, after new information came to light about the man accused of fleecing hundreds of homebuyers.

Isaac Toussie was one of 19 people whose names were put forward on Tuesday for clemency by the outgoing president.

"Based on information that has subsequently come to light, the president has directed the pardon attorney not to execute and deliver a grant of clemency to Mr Toussie," the White House said in a statement.

Toussie pleaded guilty in 2001 to making false statements about mortgage applications and lying to federal officials, and the following year pleaded guilty to mail fraud relating to the purchase of a plot of land in Brooklyn by a county government in New York.

In 2003 he was sentenced to five months in prison, five months home detention and three years supervised release, court documents show.

Rice reaps rich gifts

Protocol may put George W. Bush at the top of the US government, but when foreign leaders lavished gifts on members of his administration, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice drew most of the attention.

The elegant chief diplomat notably received a set of diamond and ruby jewelry from Saudi King Abdullah valued at $165,000, according to a list of official gifts released this week by the US State Department.

Jordan's King Abdullah II gave Rice a diamond and emerald set of jewelry, including a necklace, bracelet, earrings and a ring, worth $147,000, said the report which covered presents received by US officials in 2007.

Bush's wife Laura, for her part, also received a set of diamond and saphire jewelry from the Saudi monarch, but hers was worth just half that given to Rice - $85,000.