Melinda Bates in the Rose Garden with one of the Thanksgiving turkeys the President pardons every year.

That’s me in the picture there, and you may wonder why I’m petting a turkey.  Good question!  (‘Cause, you know, who does that?  Not to mention, isn’t that the biggest turkey you’ve ever seen?)  Well, that’s not just ANY turkey.  That’s the official, White House turkey!  You’ve probably seen a video clip of a President smiling, laying his hand on a humongous white bird and officially “pardoning” it, as the beginning of Thanksgiving.  This happens every year in the White House Rose Garden, and there I am, just before President Bill Clinton steps out of the Oval Office (far left corner) to honor this tradition.

Why am I there?  That’s another good question.  I’m there because my office, for all eight years of the Clinton administration, was just across the House in the East Wing.  Every morning I’d see the President’s schedule for official events.  So, when the President was doing something fun and interesting, I’d walk on over to watch.  Just one of the incredible perks of being a Special Assistant to the President and Director, White House Visitors Office – and of being a lifelong friend of Bill.

For this particular event, the turkey farmer selected brings a van with not one, but two of these huge birds.  Why two?  Because 1) the birds are so darn top-heavy you never know if or when they might just topple over and lie there with their little feet in the air (NOT a great visual for TV) and 2) you also never know when they might keel over from the sheer excitement and stress of the moment, and then you’d have a DEAD turkey for the shot, and that would be horrible!  So there’s always a back-up turkey.  Just in case.  And POTUS pardons it, and it goes off to live in a petting zoo somewhere.  Probably just as well.  I always thought there could be no natural way to grow a turkey that size.

And that’s it for the official celebration of Thanksgiving at the White House.  The actual day and family feast is private, just the First Family and friends, gathered either at the White House or Camp David – a really nice place for everyone to relax, get together, play games or sports and enjoy some quiet time together.  The Clintons used to celebrate the day before by going, all by themselves, to a Washington soup kitchen to prepare and serve meals to the homeless.  I well remember the first year they did this, 1993, and how hard some Members of Congress pressed to get to go with them, and how hard the press pushed for major coverage.  But for Bill and Hillary this was a private moment of personal charity, something they’d been doing for years, and they didn’t want to turn it into a press, photo-op moment – so they pushed back just as hard!

There was also an earlier (FAR earlier) Thanksgiving I shared with Bill Clinton when we were both freshmen at Georgetown, but you should read about it in my book, White House Story, a Democratic Memoir!

It’s a long way from the White House and Washington DC to Calafia Paradise Resort in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, where I now happily live.  Instead of chilly, overcast weather we enjoy days of brilliant, warm sunshine, cool breezes and crystal blue skies.  We’ll probably have our Thanksgiving feast outside, gathering our friends on the patio, looking past the flowers in my garden to the dolphins fishing just off shore.  Maybe a whale, a forerunner of the pods to come in December, will cruise by, showing us a spout, or slapping a fin on the water.  Maybe we’ll take a dip in one of the pools after dinner to burn off some calories, and for sure we’ll walk the dogs along the cliff edge, or take them for a run on the beach – these are NEW traditions for us, and we love them.

The food will be even better than it was back home, because here we can get fresher produce, at the organic farmers’ market, richer cream, and just about all the traditional ingredients.  And what’s not available here we can easily get right across the border in San Diego – at Costco or Vons.  So, cooks have the best of both worlds!  And that proximity to San Diego means it’s easy for family and friends to fly or drive here for the holidays and share them with us.

So, yes, it’s a long way from “home,” but THIS is now home, and we couldn’t be happier.  We believe we’ve come to the perfect spot in a wonderful, welcoming country, with a much lower cost of living, security and amenities we could only dream of back in the U.S.  We’d be very happy to welcome YOU as new neighbors and friends, so please come take a look at Calafia Paradise Resort!