From the Obamas and Us:

We hope you had a great Christmas and you will have a very Happy New Year!!

Let me just say that POTUS and FLOTUS were not standing on their marks for the photos so we're a bit off-centered. They were still chatting about basketball when this picture was snapped. It's amazing that we're all looking somewhat straight ahead and were not caught mid-word!! And clearly I need to learn to stand like FLOTUS. She looks much more elegant than me!!

Merry Christmas to You!!

I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas! I obviously didn't go with POTUS to Hawaii and was fortunate enough to spend two days with my family for Christmas! (Thanks to being blessed with Christmas on a Saturday this year!) It was nearly perfect (Brian spent the weekend with his family since neither of us had enough time to get to both families!) and I just had a great time with my parents, sister and BIL and my two nieces. (Katherine, we completely missed you and I'm already looking forward to next year when the level of craziness increases with two 2 year olds!) Anyway, I thought I'd share with you my annual Christmas letter. I thought I had done this in previous years but apparently not. If you've been a loyal reader, then none of this is new but I think it's always a good thing to reflect in one place all the great things that happened in 2010!!

December 12, 2010

Dear Friends and Family,
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Or at least feel like it with these blustery temperatures! It’s made it much easier for me to get into the Christmas spirit and anticipate celebrating Christ’s birth! But it’s time to reflect on the wonderful events of 2010!

I’m really looking forward to a quick trip home for Christmas this year and hope it’s a little less eventful than last year. That’s when I found myself stranded in two feet of snow for two days at a HoJo’s in Lexington, VA while driving to Roanoke. My unexpected stay included hanging out with a convict’s girlfriend all day and running into a half-naked, hand-cuffed Santa at Wal-mart. I’m pretty sure I can’t top that this year!

In some ways, this year hasn’t been as eventful as years past. No new nieces or nephews. No new house. No trips to random countries that I can’t spell. But in many other significant ways, it’s been one of the best!

Work-wise, I finished my fifth year covering the White House for CNN. I didn’t travel as much but still went to exciting places like Kalamazoo, MI; Edison, NJ; and Columbus, OH. I did make my first trip to Las Vegas and also spent 12 days in Martha’s Vineyard during Obama’s vacation. My international trip was a recent few days in Portugal covering the NATO Summit. I didn’t get to see much of Lisbon but I did hang out in the presidential palace for a bit and had to ask Hillary Clinton to get out my way! The TV networks opted to not charter planes as often this year which meant that most of my travel was done commercially! Ugh!! At least I survived!!

But the real highlights of the year came in other parts of life! I’m still very active at my wonderful church, FBC Alexandria where I serve as a deacon, “teacher” of 3 year-olds, and oboist for the annual Living Christmas Tree. I also started out 2010 with some New Year’s resolutions which I’m usually not that great at keeping. I had simple goals of being a better blogger, turning off the TV more (being more active), and praying more/worrying less. The jury is still out for the overall success in these goals but I can see how things have changed since January.

First of all, I have learned to cook!! This is significant because I now go to the grocery store on a somewhat regular basis and never buy anything in the frozen dinner section!! I also joined the gym for the first time in my life! I found a fun Zumba class and started working out. Ironically, I also developed my first sports injury and can’t really go to the gym right now but I did achieve my goal of being more active.

I still haven’t perfected the praying more/worrying less but I have seen God answer prayers right and left. And I’ve received many blessings in the process. Most significantly, is that God brought a truly wonderful guy, Brian into my life in June (how’s that for burying the lead?) and we’ve had a great time spending time together ever since. He’s originally from Richmond and works as a research analyst for a defense contractor. He lives less than a mile from me and works even closer. He survived spending Thanksgiving week with my entire family which was no small feat! His family is wonderful too and I look forward to getting to know them even more in the future. That is, only if making the Christmas letter doesn’t scare him off!

Speaking of my family, everyone is great and I’ve thoroughly been blessed this year with every moment I’ve spent with them. My nieces and nephews are incredibly cute and I love being their Aunt Beck Beck. I think everyone, including my sister’s neighbors, made it up to DC to visit this summer. And that reminds me, my guest room is always open for you too! Your friendships are incredibly special to me and I thank God for each of you! I pray that this Christmas season, you’ll be surrounded by family and friends celebrating our Savior’s birth! And I pray 2011 will be filled with countless blessings from God!!

Love,

Becky

Last Minute Gifts

Not for me, but for POTUS! Mr. Obama had already delayed his Christmas vacation by a few days in order to stick around while Congress was in session. But by Wednesday, Congress had passed most of the key legislation POTUS was hoping for!* And right as everything was wrapping up (pun intended!), POTUS held a quick press conference. It was next door at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building because the East Room is still full of decorations and he's been to the Briefing Room way too often recently! So he had a bit of a spring in his step when he gave a brief statement and then took a few questions. A little bit afterwards, it was time for him to hop on Marine One to catch up with the FLOTUS and kids in Hawaii. It was might cold and frigid while we waited about 30 minutes for him to leave the Oval Office and board the chopper. At one point I wasn't quite sure if I could feel my fingers. I've been to hundreds of departures and arrivals on the South Lawn at this point and I still think they are all incredibly cool to watch. However, the first one of the winter is always a bit eye-opening because you forget over the summer how cold it can get standing a few yards away from a helicopter. Anyway, POTUS finally came out and did something he NEVER does. In fact, neither did the previous POTUS. Mr. Obama came over to shake all of our hands and wish us a Merry Christmas! I think he paused for a second after shaking my hand and almost commented on how cold it was. But alas, he moved on and jumped on Marine One and took off for his trip to Hawaii which is obviously a much, much warmer place!

My hands were too frozen to take pictures but here is some video from a camera nearby. If you watch closely, POTUS shakes my hand at 0:43 into the clip.



*Let me remind you once again that I'm not here to make any political statements and consider myself a nonpartisan journalist. Only those who know me really well know my personal beliefs. And even then, those beliefs in no way represent my employer or anyone except myself.

A lot of VIPs in one room...

POTUS has been spending a lot of time lately in the Briefing Room. Only because his normal locations for speeches and events have been taken over with either severe cold (the Rose Garden) or Christmas decorations (East Room,Diplomatic Reception Room, etc.). Today was the day the WH delivered their summary of the annual Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy and he came to the briefing room with several others to talk about it. So for about 20 minutes, I was in the same room as POTUS, VPOTUS, the Secretary of State (former FLOTUS), the Secretary of Defense, and the Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That was a lot of power at the podium! There were also a lot of faces in the WH press corps that I didn't recognize!

Here are a few pictures:

"Holiday" Parties Galore!!

I know all the invitations say "holiday" parties but I just can't buy into that. In my world, they will always be Christmas parties! This year I have been to several. And I've dragged Brian along with me to most!! Of course, being "dragged" may not be the right words for at least one of them!

On Friday night, it was the White House Christmas Party!! I love going to it every year! I love seeing the decorations and all that. But not to sound jaded (which I recognize I am!), the thing that excites me more than anything else is to see the White House through my guest's eyes. I see the White House all the time and what could be better than freshly seeing it through Brian's eyes!

Earlier in the day, I went to Brian's office Christmas party. I explained the WH Christmas Party would be fairly similar except that it happens to be at the White House and you happen to meet the leader of the free world during the party. But the rest of it was just walking around and meeting my co-workers.

But when I step back and think about it, it is a pretty awesome experience. Even if you've done it for the past seven years! Here are my highlights:

*The decorations are really magnificent!! Even prettier than my little tree at home! :)

*The Gingerbread White House is always impressive!! They say that it takes more than a month to make this thing and it's pretty awesome. I've only made a gingerbread house once in my life and I can assure you there was no electricity and there wasn't edible furniture in the rooms!!
*We get to sit on the furniture!! I'm sure I've mentioned this in the past but for work, we NEVER get to sit on the furniture. EVER. And we don't get to roam around. We're usually in a pen somewhere like herded cattle. But not this one night. I made sure that Brian and I took advantage of this privilege!!*Meeting POTUS and FLOTUS!! This is always a highlight!! I've had great encounters a previous parties (including a birthday kiss by 43!!) but this year was a great one! Brian asked the current POTUS for some advice for the basketball team we are coaching (I'm sure you'll hear more about that in a future post!). POTUS wouldn't stop talking!! He gave some advice of what to emphasize with the 7 and 8 year olds. And FLOTUS chimed in too!! I'm not even sure if they stopped talking for the picture! I'll let you know when we get the picture!!

We really did have an awesome time and I think we must have taken a million pictures!! I'll just share a few more!! :)

Then on Saturday night (after the Living Christmas Tree), we went to my network's Christmas party. It was at the Nationals Stadium again and included batting practice. Brian was excited to see that I don't swing like a girl and I actually made contact with the ball. We had a good time with the batting practice and then listening to several of my colleagues sing some karaoke!! And Brian was such a trooper to put up with mingling with my co-workers for two nights in a row!!

All About Trees

Have I mentioned that I love Christmas? I mean, who doesn't? But I LOVE Christmas! Maybe it's because it's also my birthday season! But I just love decorating and getting ready for the season!!

After we returned from our Thanksgiving travels, I was so excited that it was time to put up my Christmas tree. I grew up with the wonderful tradition of the family going to a Christmas tree farm to cut down our own tree. But living by myself and more importantly, in a metropolitan area, that means that tradition is not realistic. Even having a real tree became a not-so-practical thing when a few years ago, I came back from visiting my family and came home to a stick in a tree stand with ornaments and millions of needles on the ground. I was still cleaning up needles in August.

So I have an artificial tree and it's great! I live in an end-unit on a fairly busy road so I enjoy putting up my tree so those passing by can see it and somehow get into the Christmas mood! This year, I thought it would be a great idea for Brian and I to put the tree up together. He was a super-duper help putting up the tree although the Eagles game was on and that distracted us somewhat! But it was fun to share with him the stories behind my ornaments. I got to tell various stories about trips and friends and I realized that my tree and ornaments are much more sentimental to me than even I realized!

I even have two ornaments from my K/2nd grade teacher, Ms. Kingery! I took a picture and put it on Facebook and shared with her that it was still in mint condition more than 25 years later!!

Then this week, I took some more vacation time because I was playing the oboe in my church's Living Christmas Tree all week. It's a fun production, especially the oboe player! :) The rest of the orchestra is mostly comprised of professional musicians so it's really fun to play along with them. Even if it means being a complete oboe nerd for several days. But in all honesty, it's not all about me! :) It's a great ministry of my church that hopefully gets people in the Christmas mood and ready to celebrate the birth of our Savior! If you've never seen it, you totally should!

Turkey Adventures!!

Happy Thanksgiving (a little late!) I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating with your friends in family! This past week was sooo much fun and filled with so many great memories.

After flying back from Portugal on Sunday night, Brian and I headed down to South Carolina to visit with my family. Then for the weekend after Thanksgiving, we drove up to PA for some time with his family. I knew this was a test... over the next week we would be spending about 20 hours in the car and then 5 days with my family. It was a test of a young relationship that we passed with flying colors! :)

We hit the road (relatively) early on Monday and after a wonderful stop at a Cracker Barrel, made it to the beach. I was so happy to see my family! Both sisters, their families, and the Casolas were eventually there- 11 adults (Grace, you get counted as an adult in my count!!), a 7 year old and two 1 year-olds. I loved every moment!

I admit it. I'm struggling to sum up the week in the best way. Maybe since it's a Thanksgiving post, I'll have a top ten list for things I am thankful for from the week.

10) Time off- I am extremely thankful for my job and for the unique opportunities it provides. I honestly mean that. But I honestly cherish the time away from work too. As I've said before, I love to get away and just unplug. When I'm with my family, I totally do that. E-mails pile up on my blackberry without being read (which if you know me, I'm sort of a blackberry addict). And spending time with my loved ones is just such a great way to rejuvenate and ironically, relax.

9) My Family- I know this is cliché but I just love my family. We were all together (which the exception of my brother who we missed) which only happens once, maybe twice a year. It hadn't happened since last Christmas. We're by no means even close to being a perfect family. But I am so thankful for my godly parents who in my humble opinion, did a great job of raising four children. And I'm thankful for my siblings (and even my brothers-in-law :) ) and for the time we got to spend together. It just never seems like enough!!

8) Nolan- Since he and his parents live in St. Louis, I don't get to see this little guy nearly as much as I would like. But he is seriously one cute kid. I'm not just saying that because I'm still convinced he looks just like me. I hope he knows how much his Aunt Beck Beck loves him. I cherish each moment I get to spend with him. He's got a great smile and laugh and is just an awesome baby. It was fun to watch him try to compete with Raygan and he definitely held his own. It's such a cool thing they are so close in age!! And seriously, isn't this kid just incredibly cute???

7) Cayton and Raygan- I just love these kids too!! I get to see them more often, so I feel like Raygan knows me a little bit more than Nolan does (plus she has a six month advantage!!) But each moment with them is just as special. Cayton is the most incredibly sweet 7 year-old I know. She's still calling me Beck Beck Sillygirl which just warms my heart! And Raygan is so cute I could eat her. Don't worry Laura, I won't eat your child but her little sassy attitude at age 18 months is too cute. I realize I don't have to live with it 24/7 but she is just a funny kid to watch. At the beach, she would just climb in my lap for me to read her a book or jump into my arms (pretty much when she wanted something she couldn't have). K and I got to put her to sleep one night and I loved watching her fall asleep. I could have lived without getting kicked and hit in the mouth more than once but I've forgiven her. :)

6) The Casolas-Chip, Diane, and Grace have become family to me. My mom watched Grace when she was a baby until she was about 10 or so. I can't remember. But their family is just a lot of fun and I have loved watching Grace grow up into an awesome teenager!! Having them with us at Thanksgiving was marvelous. It's like having another great sister, brother-in-law, and niece! I even got to have a slumber party with Grace! They make me laugh and I found myself at more than one time in our several days together just sitting on the couch laughing at the most inane things. Good times!!
5) Annual Thanksgiving Family Miniature Golf Outing- Ever since we've been going to the beach for Thanksgiving (like the past almost 20 years??) we've played miniature golf on Thanksgiving Day. Some years it's cold. Others are fairly warm. I honestly don't remember the weather this year but it had the distinction of having two one-year-olds present. I'm not sure who thought it would actually work but let's just say we didn't make it through the first hole before the meltdowns occurred. That led to rotating basis of babysitters (some were better than others and I'm not naming names) while the rest of us played. In recent years, the guys have opted to go watch football instead of partaking in the fun. Brian chose to play with us although given the choice again, I'm sure he's going to pick football. It was a lot of fun even though it was by far the most chaotic game of miniature golf in the history of the world. And I'm thankful that the tradition continues! 4) Walks on the beach- Even in November when it's just slightly chilly, there's something about looking out at the ocean and seeing the vastness of God's creation. It's even better with family members. Especially with my sisters and nieces and nephew. And even more so, the boyfriend!
3) Brian- I don't want to sound cheesy or sappy or anything like that. But I am thankful for him. He's such a great guy in so many ways. But he put up with the chaos and craziness of my family for days! The average decibel level for his family is a lot lower than mine but he went with it and survived. I only saw him looking like a deer in headlights a couple of times! He enjoyed (it seemed) seeing my nieces and nephew and he read his fair share of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. One cute thing I loved seeing was when the two of us took Cayton to the pier. On our way back, Cayton convinced him to give her a piggyback ride. Then I randomly ran into some friends from DC on the road and so he took her back to the condo and was holding her hand. It was so sweet. And I promised to not get sappy. But he is just a great guy!! The whole time with my family was great but as we were leaving to drive back, the babies were going into meltdown and I'm pretty sure this picture made him question whether he could ever come back! :)
2) Brian's family/trip to PA- After the chaos in SC, we headed to PA for some time with his family. I had met them all before (except for I finally got to meet his youngest brother) but it was great to spend some quality time with them. He also has a one year old nephew (only a month younger than Nolan) and it was Adrian's first birthday. It was great celebrating with them!! His family is different than mine... beyond the average decibel level. They are all incredibly, incredibly smart people (no offense Mom, but it's just true!) and theirs is a house of boys (where with the exception of my brother, our house was really girly!) So the topics and levels of discussion are just different than what I was used to! I told his mom that they did a great job of raising three really great boys!

1) This year we didn't go around the Thanksgiving Day dinner table and say what we are thankful for. When you have two babies (and maybe some adults too) who are about to go into total meltdown, you do what you have to do to make it through the meal in one piece. But had life been somewhat calmer at that moment, I would have said I was thankful for all of the above- for a wonderful family and this year, especially for a wonderful guy to experience it with me. And even more so that he didn't run away and I had a ride home!!

A Day With World Leaders

After my "free" day in Lisbon which didn't actually include free time or free meals, Friday was my day to spend with POTUS in travel pool. It was a packed day of meeting after meeting after photo-op after photo-op.

For you longtime followers of this blog (Mom, are you the only one?) you'll remember my previous posts from previous world summits. I've done this plenty of times by now and every time it's my turn, I think three things. #1. I will get to see multiple world leaders and hey, that's pretty cool. #2. I will be walking/running A LOT. And #3. I will get beat up by journalists from all over the world. Those three things are givens!! The other given is that this will be a long post, so stick with me!

So I started out the day having to wake up really early to go over to POTUS's hotel to wait for his arrival. AF1 was flying in overnight and my correspondent was on the flight but as soon as it landed, we needed to swap out. Luckily, the schedule allowed time for him to come to his hotel first. I'm guessing he didn't really need to check-in like the rest of us but he had a little closed press event with embassy workers and I'm guessing wanted to change his clothes. It's not like he couldn't change on AF1 but I digress.

So I made it over to the hotel four hours before he got there and was put in a dark conference room by myself until the rest of the travel pool arrived. That led to one thing. A long nap. I was out. For a couple of those hours. It was great! Anyway, POTUS eventually made his way there and the rest of the travel pool accompanied.

Our first stop of the day was at the Presidential Palace to see President Silva. I know next to nothing about Lisbon but I did learn that they had a huge earthquake around 1750 which leveled the entire city except for the area with the palace. So it was very ornate and beautiful! It was also really big. Not the biggest palace I've been to but it's nice. (I realized that I am totally jaded when I wrote that last sentence!!) I also learned from a WH staffer that the WH is the world's smallest residence for country's leader. Put that piece of trivia in your back pocket!

Anyway, there was a bunch of ceremonial stuff like reviewing the troops, handshakes, signing the guest book, etc. At one point I was trying to snap a picture of POTUS but two people came and stood right in front of me. I then realized it was Hillary Clinton and her Portuguese counterpart!! My view was totally obstructed and then the Sec of State turns to me and asks if she was in my way. I had to be honest and said, "Why yes, yes you are." She then grabs the arm of her counterpart and moves out of my way!!! Woo hoo!!!! I still didn't get a good shot of him signing the guest book but I did feel pretty good knowing Hillary got out of my way!!

We then go in for a photo op with POTUS and POP. Wow, that's good acronym for a world leader! We were in there for approximately one minute and I think I got hit in the head about 40 times.

We then went and waited for POTUS and POP finish their lunch and come out and make statements. They said nice things about each other and their countries but I was somewhat distracted by trying to get my translation thingy working and just the pure beauty of the room! Plus the ceremonial guards had fake blonde ponytails coming out of their hats and I couldn't stop staring to figure them out.

We left there quickly and rushed over to the Prime Minister of Portugal's office. We just had a repeat of all the ceremony stuff (minus the guest book) and we were ushered into a small room where POTUS and PMOP chatted and their staffs sat and watched. This time we had to fight our way into the room because Portuguese officials wouldn't let us in. I have no idea what they were saying to me but I just ignored them and kept pushing my way in.

After that, they finished meeting and then came out to give statements. POTUS's translation thingy wasn't working (none of ours were) and things were crazy in that tiny room. POTUS and PMOP kept talking but so did the Portuguese media. One guy was calling his mom. Another reporter was trying to tape a standup. All while the leaders were speaking. Talk about being distracted. And I got elbowed in the head too many times to count. I think I have bruises from the melee!!

Later in the afternoon, we headed to the NATO site for the summit. I think this might have been my first time doing travel pool for a NATO event but all those world meetings are the same. Lots of meetings (most of which is behind closed doors) and a lot of running and pushing and shoving to get in the rooms. I'm pretty sure I ran (carrying a tripod) at least two miles on slippery cobblestone sidewalks. We finally went in for the opening session with several hundred camera people from around the world. They weren't that nice and they smelled bad. But I didn't get stomped on like and lose my shoe like in the past.

That came later. During the Family Photo. This is never fun. I mean, it's cool to see all the leaders posing for the cameras but to get there, it's survival of the fittest. We all (when I say we all, I'm referring to literally hundreds) ran around the enormous convention center until we got to one point where we all just abruptly stopped. The authorities wanted us to form a single line. I don't know Portuguese but if I did, I would have told them that they were crazy and it would never happen. Our stuff was searched by dogs about three or four times and then all of a sudden everyone started running again. Through one extremely small door. It was a crush of people and I'm surprised there were no fatalities. My cameraguy was bleeding by the end of it but still alive. While I was in the crush of people, the only image that came to my head was like this was like eyedrops. Only one person of the hundreds was going through the door at a time. It was insane.

Once we got in the room, all the leaders came out, chatted with each other, and then posed. And none of them had known what we had to go through to get there.

After I took .5 seconds to appreciate the moment, it was over and we were running to our next event. POTUS was giving a statement. Luckily we weren't fighting with any other journalists to get a good shot because we were the only ones in the room. It was calm and when POTUS came out to talk, I actually could pay attention to what he was saying.

From there, it was just a waiting game. POTUS went to dinner and we went to the international filing center with the hundreds of people we had squeezed through the door with earlier. And we sat and did a little work. And then we waited. And waited. And then we went to the buses to wait some more. Finally after about four hours, POTUS gets in his car and we race back to his hotel. Sixteen hours later, we were finally back at our own hotel and after a midnight dinner, finally got to sleep!!

By and large, it was a good day. Minus a few drops of blood and a few elbows to the head, I realized that once again, I am in such a unique place in life and I am soooo incredibly blessed to have these experiences. I won't be get to be in the same room as world leaders forever so I am appreciating these moments while I have them!

Postcards from Lisboa

I know we all know the name of the city as Lisbon but for some reason, they insist on spelling it Lisboa over here. That's right, I'm spending a few days in Lisbon with POTUS. Before you get too jealous, the only time I really had for sightseeing on this trip was yesterday and I was dealing with plenty of issues for work. By the time they were all resolved, it was dark and rainy.

So my postcards from Lisboa are actually taken by my colleague Todd. If you are somehow living vicariously through me, then you'll have to change your focus because I live vicariously through Todd. He's based in London (and you know how much I love those Brits! :) ) and he gets sent literally around the world to cover all the biggest stories. Now this trip would not qualify as the biggest story but I'm always happy to see him because he is great. And he takes awesome pictures that I can steal and pretend like I saw all of this stuff. Who knows, it might just work out for me to get an hour or two of sight-seeing in before I leave. Just in case, I'll still post Todd's work. Because even if I do get out, his work is MUCH better than any picture I can ever take. It did help that he had the most perfect weather for his adventures in Lisboa.

So last night, I went out to dinner with some colleagues from other networks. We had reservations at 8p at some chic Lisbon place but I couldn't go with them right at 8p because I had a meeting. So after my meeting, I caught a taxi and went to go find them. Well, I don't know Portuguese and my driver knew NO English. I've learned how to get around this problem in other situations but I'm pretty sure that he took me the long way around town to get to this restaurant. That's okay because Lisboa or Lisbon is a pretty city at night. The restaurant was in their Old Town which is much bigger and much older than my Old Town in Alexandria. I'm amazed that I actually found the place because Mr. Cabbie just dropped me off somewhere in the vicinity and I just walked around until I found where I needed to be.

The food was great and we had a wonderful meal at Lisboa a Noite. I highly recommend it if you ever find yourself in Lisbon with needing a good Portuguese meal. Two thumbs up! Anyway, after dinner, we left to get back to our hotel and we encountered hundreds and hundreds of young people in the streets. Like a huge, HUGE, HUGE mob. And we all felt incredibly uncool. And old. I'm not sure if this was just a typical Thursday night in Lisbon or if there was something cool going on but it was crazy!! We maneuvered our way through the crowd and made it to the subway and among the group of us, we figured out how to get back to our hotel! It was great fun!

Today, I'm in travel pool which will of course involve a lot of running and pushing and shoving and then waiting. I'm sure I'll share all about my adventures tomorrow! In the meantime, enjoy some postcards from Lisboa. (Courtesy Todd who I am pretending I was with yesterday instead of couped up in my hotel doing work.)