Nation: Washington Gingerbread

There is a creche in the East Room, and the White House halls are decked with boughs of holly—not to mention thousands of massed poinsettias, hundreds of velvet bows, swags of greenery, four 50-inch wreaths and doubtless, somewhere in all the profusion, a pear tree complete with partridge (stuffed). The Sunday worship service over the holidays will be led by six teenage sons and daughters of presidential staff members, backed by the Columbus Boychoir from Princeton, NJ. At a dozen major holiday parties, a dozen smaller ones, and three candlelight tours, a Pat...