CHRISTMAS AT THE NIXONS'

JOHN and Abigail Adams moved into the drafty, unfinished White House just before Christmas, 1800, and threw the first party there on New Year's Day. Ever since, the holidays have been a lively season at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Few presidential couples, however, have gone at the Christmastime merrymaking with quite the gusto of Richard and Pat Nixon. For the holidays they have peopled the place with choirs, Bob Hope, the Apollo 12 astronauts and more than 6,000 other Americans, renowned and unknown. To fuel those guests, the kitchens turned out 25,000 cookies, 1,130 gallons of fruit punch and an identical quantity of eggnog. Nobody in Washington can remember a more festive White House Christmas.

The Nixons have three Christmas trees: the 65-ft. spruce on the Ellipse south of the White House, a 19-ft. tree decorated with each state's flower that adorns the marble entrance foyer, and a 9-ft. blue spruce upstairs that is trimmed with ornaments that the Nixons have used for years. The tree in the family quarters stands on a revolving base that plays Jingle Bells. Outside, for the first time, tiny white lights glow from the boxwoods that line the front driveway. To TIME Correspondent Bonnie Angelo, Mrs. Nixon explained: "You can't overdo at Christmas time. The more the better, so far as I'm concerned."

Handel to Hope. For the Sunday East Room service last week, the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church choir put on a half-hour version of Handel's Messiah (see Music). That evening, the program shifted from Handel to Hope as the comedian staged a preview of his Christmas show for the troops in Viet Nam. The audience included the Nixons, the Agnews, Army Chief of Staff William Westmoreland, the Henry Fords, Lynda Bird Robb, Presidential Barber Steve Martini and a gaggle of other guests.

Hope added to the growing repertory of Agnew humor with a few cracks that the Vice President received gamely enough. One example: "Spiro Agnew's library burned down. The fire destroyed both of his books--including one he hadn't even colored yet."

Antiphonal Chorus. The Nixons have always been big senders of Christmas cards; this year they outdid every other presidential couple in memory by mailing out 37,000 red-bordered cards with the White House south fac,ade embossed on the covers.

The Nixons will spend Christmas Day in the Executive Mansion and then fly out to San Clemente for a brief holiday. At the family celebration, Nixon will doubtless sit down at the piano to play his Christmas specialty--Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the first Christmas song Daughters Tricia and Julie learned to sing. For the first time, however, the entire family will not be together on Christmas. Julie and David Eisenhower are flying--student fare--to Brussels, where David's father, John, serves as U.S. Ambassador to Belgium.

In all the White House Christmas cheer, there was only one discordant incident. As the President prepared to turn on the 5,000 lights decorating the big national Christmas tree in the Ellipse, he declared: "May this moment be one when America looked forward to a decade in which Americans could enjoy Christmas at peace with all the countries of the world." Antiwar demonstrators in front of the tree raised an antiphonal chant. "Peace now!" said the protesters, who call themselves "the Washington Area Grinch Resistance" after the character in the Dr. Seuss story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. "Stop the war!" they chorused.

Raising his voice, the President continued: "Today America is not at peace. What we want for this nation is not only peace now, but peace in the years to come--peace for all people in the years to come."

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