The 800 employees of Hallmark Cards Inc.’s plant in Lawrence already have delivered their holiday greetings to the White House.

Now Laura Bush’s office is sending more than 2 million copies of their handiwork to foreign heads of state, U.S. administration officials, employees, friends and others connected to the First Family.

Copies of the official 2004 White House Christmas Cards are in the mail, in envelopes bearing postmarks from Crawford, Texas.

The cards were produced at Hallmark’s Lawrence production center, marking the fourth consecutive year it handled the contract job for the president and his family. The cards are purchased for the Bushes by the Republican National Committee.

Typically, the plant runs the Bush order in July. This time around, the 650,000-square-foot plant didn’t wrap things up until November.

“Obviously, this was a campaign year, so there was a lot going on,” said Deidre Parks, a Hallmark spokeswoman. “We usually plan our Christmas line — the Hallmark Christmas line — 18 months to two years in advance, but this one was a little more short-term for us. We’re moving pretty quickly on it.”

This year’s order of more than 2 million cards is the largest for the White House, and is thought to be the biggest single contract order filled by Hallmark. Last year the Bushes ordered 1.5 million cards.

The Lawrence plant is the biggest card producer for Hallmark, the Kansas City, Mo.-based company that claims half of the U.S. card market, which is expected to produce 1.9 billion Christmas cards for this holiday season.

The cover of each White House card features a reproduction of an oil painting from a Texas artist, offering a bright depiction of the executive mansion’s Red Room. The raised image is on ecru stock, surrounded by a debossed — or sunken — border.

Inside, an insert page features the presidential seal, embossed in gold. On the page are two printed messages:

• “Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. Psalm 95:2 (NIV)”
• “May songs of joy fill your home with warmth and your heart with happiness this holiday season. 2004”

Hallmark has produced official White House cards since 1953, when President Eisenhower started what he hoped would become an annual tradition. Since then, Hallmark has produced another 36 official cards for all U.S. presidents except Bill Clinton, who opted to use American Greetings Corp., which has card-production operations in Arkansas.