LARRY LIPSON – AFFORDABLE WINE REPORT
For fifty years Larry Lipson was the food critic for the Los Angeles Daily News and now reports from Florida weekly with his thoughts and favorite picks for Food & Wine. His lovely Wife Lillian is also on hand at the Lipson Institute for advanced wine studies.
TEVI TROY - PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN - CHRISTMAS STORIES FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
Nixon and the Christmas Jacket – Richard Nixon had his very own colorful Christmas smoking jacket, which he wore on Christmas. He wore the jacket on a Christmas TV special with the Nixon family in 1971. Typically, he looked stiff even in the jacket and surrounded by his family, as he did in other appearances that were designed to show a looser, more easy-going Nixon to the American people.
Obama Being Stranded on Christmas – In December of 2011, Barack Obama was stuck in the White House, waiting to see if the administration could come to agreement on yet another must pass spending bill. As the New York Times put it at the time, Air Force One was “sitting on the tarmac while the White House press corps and the staff wondered whether Mr. Obama would end up padding around the residence alone on Christmas morning.” Obama, for what it’s worth, also reported some Christmas childhood traumas in his memoir, such as the time his father, on a rare visit to Hawaii, made him turn off the Christmas special “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” because he felt that young Barry was watching too much TV. Obama also recalled looking at the Sears, Roebuck catalog as a boy, where he “noticed that there was nobody like me in the Sears, Roebuck Christmas catalog that Toot and Gramps sent us, and that Santa was a white man.”
Elvis Visiting Nixon on Christmas Week - Nixon’s famous meeting and picture with Elvis – the single most requested photo from the National Archives -- took place on Christmas week, 1970, and came about after Elvis’ father chided him for spending too much money on Christmas gifts, including “more than $100,000 for 32 handguns and ten Mercedes-Benzes.” Elvis fled to Washington, where he set events in motion that led up to the famous visit.
Eisenhower’s Song List - had a list compiled of his favorite songs, which included 3 Christmas songs -- Silent Night, Adeste Fidelis, and The First Noel. Ike also saw Christmas as a time to watch movies with family and friends, something he enjoyed during the rest of the year as well.
Kennedy’s Unsent Christmas Card – The Kennedy’s had prepared their family Christmas card for 1963 before Kennedy’s fateful trip to Dallas. After the tragic assassination, the card was never mailed.
Carter’s Christmas Book – Jimmy Carter loved Christmas as a boy so much that he even wrote a book called Christmas in Plains. Carter reminisced about how much he loved looking through the Sears, Roebuck catalog for gifts he could request for the holiday.
Ford’s Christmas Reflections – Gerald Ford was constantly mocked as a klutz as president, even though he was one of the best athletes ever to become president. According to his press secretary Ron Nessen, he never complained about this treatment, with one exception. On a Christmas break at Vail, Nessen recalled that Ford said “ruefully” that “You know, those reporters get most of their exercise on the bar stool.”
Christmas was not a national holiday until 1870, but there were Christmas stories in the 19th century as well:
Lincoln’s Christmas Gift - In 1864, Abraham Lincoln, who had voted against making Christmas a national holiday, received a last December telegram from General Sherman informing him of the capture of Savannah. Sherman’s telegram read: "I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton."
Grover Cleveland’s Campaign Song - Once of Grover Cleveland’s campaign songs, Good Democrats, was sung to the tune of "Christmas Tree O' Christmas Tree."
Andrew Jackson’s Christmas Parties - A young Andrew Jackson once hosted a Christmas Party in Salisbury, North Carolina. Jackson, a rowdy law student at the time, thought it would be a good idea to invite two prostitutes as guests to the party. It was not, and Jackson was forced to apologize. As president, Jackson made up for his faux pas by hosting an elaborate White House Christmas “frolic” in 1834, complete with dancing, dinner, and an indoor “snowball fight” with cotton snowballs for the children.
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