Out on a Limb: On Monday Barbara...

Out on a Limb: On Monday Barbara Bush showed off the official White House Christmas tree and its 1,200 needlepoint ornaments--including a 6-inch, white-haired, First Lady-like angel wearing three strands of pearls and blowing a celestial horn. “I’ve been a little embarrassed by that,” Mrs. Bush said. The 18 1/2-foot tree features three decorations made by Mrs. Bush: Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls, and First Dog Millie in an elf’s cap.

Double Oops!: Human services officials say they redesigned their listings in the blue pages of the Lincoln, Neb. telephone book to avoid duplication. But thanks to a printing error, they got more duplication. Pages 12 and 13 of the special section are identical. Health administrator Tom Cardwell said Lincoln Telephone & Telegraph Co. will enclose copies of the missing Page 13--complete with an adhesive backing--in January telephone bills.

Coming Forward: Patrick Kennedy, son of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), was treated at a New Hampshire rehabilitation clinic six years ago for drug abuse, the Providence Journal reported Monday. In a brief statement to the paper, Kennedy, 24, a Rhode Island state legislator since 1988, said he entered Spofford Hall treatment center while attending Phillips Academy prep school in Andover, Mass. He confirmed the episode because of a National Enquirer report. Kennedy aide Christopher Nocera did not specify what substance Kennedy abused, telling the newspaper only: “It was drugs.”

A Grave Move: The South-Central Connecticut Water Authority is considering an unusual way of holding down its water rates--by converting a 50-acre plot of its property into a cemetery. The company says owning and operating a non-denominational cemetery could generate $1 million a year over the next 30 years. “It seemed at first to be a sort of bizarre kind of thing, but then it fit,” Otto Schaefer, the authority’s director of land management, said.