President and Mrs. Bush attended the 2008 Lighting of the National Christmas Tree for the last time in President Bush's eight year presidency. In his speech, President Bush asked Santa if he had an extra sleigh since he is going to soon be missing Air Force One.
Thank you. Mr. Secretary, thank you for the introduction and thank you for the warm welcome. Laura and I are pleased to welcome all of you here for one of Washington's great traditions, the lighting of the National Christmas Tree.
Santa, thank you for finally showing up. I know you've come a long way. After all, you do live in the North Pole. You may have heard that Laura and I are going to have plenty of time next year. So we look forward to returning the favor. The problem is we're going to be short on an airplane. Have you got an extra sleigh?
You can read the full speech here. In the photo below President Bush appears to be doing a fist bump with Santa.
White House photos by Chris Greenberg (top) and Eric Draper (bottom)
