Making the mailing list: Want a card?

BYLINE: By DENA BUNIS, The orange county Register

BODY:

Think your Christmas Card list is long?

President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush sent holiday cards this year to 2 million of their closest friends.

Don't scour your mailbox for one if you haven't received it yet, though. The cards were mailed the day after Thanksgiving.

This year's card of the White House Red Room was designed by Cindi Holt of Fort Worth, Texas. Holt, a native Californian, is a self-taught artist who began publicly showing her work in 1986 and designed Bush's official Texas governor's Christmas card in 1998.

For a look at past presidential holiday cards as well as pictures of the White House holiday decorations, go to www.whitehouse.gov/holiday.

On Capitol Hill, the most sought-after card is Rep. Loretta Sanchez's. Sanchez always has some fun with her holiday card, and this year is no exception. Her card is going to thousands of constituents, supporters and House and Senate colleagues this week. As always, it features her fluffy white—and quite patient—cat, Gretzky. But for the first time it is minus her husband Stephen Brixey because the two have divorced. But the pair, Sanchez says, have joint custody of the cat. The Santa Ana Democrat has two disclaimers on the card -- one that no taxpayer funds were used to produce or mail the card. The other: ``No cat was harmed in the making of this card.''

Designs for the Orange County congressional delegation are more traditional, from Rep. Gary Miller's picture of the U.S. Capitol with a message of thanks for our troops on the inside to Rep. Christopher Cox's family picture in front of their new house in Newport Beach.

One delegation member is sending out a card for the first time. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher hasn't had a tradition of sending holiday cards, but who wouldn't want to show off triplets?

Are you sending a funny Christmas card this year? Send it to us, and we might publish it in our Life, etc. section. Mail to The Orange County Register, Life, etc./Christmas cards, 625 N. Grand Ave., Santa Ana CA 92701.

Want a card?

If you want to receive a card from the White House next year, just write to the President. Letter senders are often added to the holiday card list. Just a hint: You might want to send complimentary correspondence. Here's the address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20500

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