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THE PRESIDENT: I hope mine is humor, that I'm able to joke and laugh. Laughter is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. This is a town that's not laughing a lot lately.
Mrs. Bush: We've done the same thing since we first got married. We wake up in the morning and drink coffee and read the newspapers. We like to go to bed early. Those quiet times that we're together at the end of the day give us the most comfort with each other.
Angela Roy wrote from an APO address in Europe: What are the craziest things you ever gave each other for Christmas?
Mrs. Bush: I think George would say those sweaters that I give him every single year – which I'm not giving him this year. The best gift he ever gave me was when I opened a present under the tree and there was a little porcelain library. It was the library at SMU, my university. (It represented) a beautiful garden and walkway that leads into the library there. He had given it as a gift to my university. That was, by far, the most moving gift he ever gave me.
Are your daughters coming home for Christmas?
Mrs. Bush: They are. Jenna is working with an international organization in Central and South America about education policy. And Barbara is working for a museum in the education department.
Rena Dillard of Nashville asks: Do you have a favorite Christmas memory of them as little children?
Mrs. Bush: I love to tell the girls this story. They would always help me decorate the tree, and then we'd have hot chocolate. Once when they were really little, I said, "Sit under the tree" – and it makes me want to weep – "and I'll go make the hot chocolate." (The First Lady's eyes fill with tears.) And I came back and they were so literal. They were squished under the branches, sitting way back by the trunk of the tree waiting for their hot chocolate. I'll never forget those precious little babies under the tree.
Suzanne Young of Des Moines asks: What are your plans for contributing to society after the end of your presidency?
THE PRESIDENT: Tell Suzanne that I'll be thinking about that after my presidency. I'll be active. There's a lot of really good initiatives we started here, such as battling HIV/AIDS on the continent of Africa, or dealing with malaria, or Laura's literacy initiatives, and the Freedom Agenda. I've got so much on my mind, and this job is so exciting that it's really hard to settle down and plan the next 10 years of our life.
JOSH & FERGIE: ROCKED BY SCANDAL
Did he cheat with a stripper?
Married less than a year, the couple denies an Atlanta woman’s claims that she and Josh had a fling
Note that this week’s cover of PEOPLE may differ regionally
