CHRISTMAS SPECIAL Melania Trump s Heartfelt Visit Speech Storytime at Children s Hospital AQ1E

Thank you so much, Kayleen, for a beautiful introduction. And thank you, Philip and Bradley. You all look beautiful. Thank you for having me here. Hello, Santa and Mrs. Claus. So, today I will read the book, How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney? How does Santa do it? How does it work? Does he cinch up his belt? Or shrink himself down to the size of a mouse? Or stretch out like Tuffy and step in one leg at a time? Maybe Santa can turn into fire, but probably not. Does he go head first? Or feet first? Or neither? Does Santa ever get stuck partway down and need one of the reindeer to give him a kick? Does his suit get sooty? Because chimneys have soot. And then does Santa do laundry before he goes to the next house? And if you don't have a chimney, what happens then? Maybe Santa knows about the key under the flowerpot. Even though nobody's ever, ever supposed to mention the key under the flowerpot. So how would he find out about that? Does he flatten himself and slide under your door? Or does he slip through the pipes and come out of your faucet? Or if you have got a mail slot, I bet Santa folds up like a letter and has a reindeer pop him through. And I bet the stamp on Santa is one of those Santa stamps too. Dogs must like Santa very much or else they bark. He probably carries treats in his pocket and knows just where every dog likes to be scratched. He tells them they're good and whispers them names, which he knows without even looking at their collars. I bet he lets them give him kisses right on his beard if they're a kind of dogs that like to lick. Can Santa see in the dark? Does he wear night vision goggles that make everything green? I bet he'd like that because Santa likes green. Or heat vision goggles because he might like red better. Should we leave out carrots, not cookies, on Christmas Eve since they're good for his eyesight? No. The twinkling lights on the tree will make enough light for Santa to see, tiptoeing past chairs without bumping his knee to leave a present or two or three and get a kiss from the dog if it's a dog that licks and take a cookie or two or three and then leave. Santa goes up the chimney the same way he comes down and I have no idea how Santa does that. But I'm so glad he can. Thank you. I'm sure Santa will visit all of you this Christmas and bring you a lot of toys. So I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I wish you a lot of strength and love. My husband, President, is sending love and best wishes as well. Thank you for having me here. Thank you. Thank you to the First Lady of the United States. Mrs. Trump, thank you so much. We are so honored to continue with this long-standing tradition at Children's National. And we're so honored to have you here today. Thank you for spending time with us today and sharing joy and cheer. And we are so appreciative of your partnership and your commitment to children's health and hope. So on behalf of Children's National and everyone here today, we wish you Happy Holidays. Thank you.