Some 1.4 million of President and Laura Bush’s closest friends – and political supporters, advisers, foreign heads of state and others – are opening their mail this month to find season’s greetings from Lawrence.

This year’s White House holiday card, a presidential traditional launched 52 years ago by President Eisenhower, once again was produced at the Hallmark Cards production plant at 101 McDonald Drive.

The plant is Hallmark’s largest, and its employees traditionally are tasked with printing, stamping and cutting the first family’s official holiday cards. Last year the plant printed more than 2 million White House cards – a Hallmark record for a single order – to be delivered following Bush’s re-election, and this year only the numbers and the design were different.

“It’s what we do, and we do it well,” said Deidre Parks, a Hallmark spokeswoman. “The people in Lawrence were once again thrilled to be a part of the process, so for them it’s quite a thrill and quite an honor to produce the president’s Christmas card.”

This year’s version features a reproduction of a painting that features the first pets – dogs Barney and Miss Beazley and a cat, Willie – in the snow outside the south portico of the White House.

Officials at Kansas City, Mo.-based Hallmark started work on the project in the spring, and turned to employees at the 650,000-square-foot plant in Lawrence to handle production.

The finished product features the painting as a tip-on on ecru stock. An embossed gold foil presidential seal tops the insert page, which includes a Psalm and message selected by the president and first lady:

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts; so I am helped, and my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. Psalm 28:7 (RSV)

“With best wishes for a holiday season of hope and happiness. 2005”