[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 51 (Monday, December 23, 1996)]
[Page 2533]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a White House Children's Christmas Party

December 20, 1996

    The President. Thank you. Give them a hand. Weren't they great? 
[Applause] Hello.

    Children. Hello. Hi, Bill Clinton.

    The President. Thank you, Antonio. Welcome to the White House. We're 
very glad to have you here. Every year, the First Lady and I love to 
meet with some children about this time and read the night before 
Christmas story, because Christmas is really a time for children, isn't 
it?

    Children. Yes.

    The President. And a time when we give gifts to each other and to 
our children to say how important you are. And it's a very special time 
for us. You know, Hillary wrote a book about children and families, and 
just today she gave a great gift--she gave the money that came in from 
the book to children's hospitals all across the country and to other 
things for children.

    And one of the things that we hope will come out of this is that not 
only all of you here but all the children all over our country will feel 
very special; and as Christmas celebrates the birth of baby Jesus, that 
all the little children in our country will feel that they are very, 
very special.

    So I want you to listen carefully to this story. A lot of you know 
this story, don't you?

    Children. Yes.

    The President. Do you?

    The First Lady. You can chime in?

    The President. So you can chime in. If you know--if you know any of 
the lines when I read it, in this wonderful book--see the pictures, can 
you see it--you say the lines, too. Okay? Okay, here we go. ``The Visit 
of St. Nicholas.''

[At this point, the President read the story.]

Note: The President spoke at 1:47 p.m. in the East Room at the White 
House.