President Bush spending Thanksgiving with family, close aides

By Kelly Wallace, CNN White House Correspondent

HAGERSTOWN, Maryland (CNN) -- President Bush is spending the Thanksgiving Day holiday with his immediate family and some of his closest aides at the presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains.

The extended group is dining on roast turkey, attending church and even setting a new presidential record for the Camp David Turkey Trot, the White House said.

Joining Bush and the first lady at Camp David are their daughters, Jenna and Barbara, who are college sophomores, and Bush's brother Marvin and his family, according to Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman.

Also at the retreat are Karl Rove, the president's top political adviser, and his family; Karen Hughes, Bush's counselor, and her family; and Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser.

Bush got up early, around 6: 15 a.m., and participated in an annual Thanksgiving jog on the grounds of Camp David with about 40 military and Secret Service personnel, Johndroe said. The president set a new "presidential record" for the three-mile race, clocking in at 20 minutes, 16 seconds, according to the White House spokesman.

The president then had breakfast with his wife and daughters, and attended services at the Camp David chapel.

Bush's Thanksgiving Day meal was to include roast turkey with maple butter glaze, cornbread dressing, sweet potato puree, green beans and pumpkin pie with ginger, according to the first lady's office.

The president did not conduct a video teleconference meeting with his national security team Thursday, but is expected to chair briefings Friday and Saturday from the presidential retreat to monitor the military campaign in Afghanistan.

The president returns to the White House on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, helped serve a free traditional Thanksgiving meal to dozens of diners at the Gospel Rescue Ministries.

The facility is a homeless shelter, drug rehabilitation facility and educational training center for about 100 men.

Mrs. Cheney and her two adult daughters, Liz and Mary, greeted guests with a "Happy Thanksgiving, " then shuttled trays full of all the fixings -- turkey, mashed potatoes, candied yams and more -- from the kitchen to the dining area.

"You're really lucky, 'cause I didn't cook anything," Mrs. Cheney joked as she delivered meals to the group. The shelter's kitchen manager told Mrs. Cheney he cooked about 150 turkeys this week in preparation for the holiday feast.

The Gospel Rescue Ministries has a partnership with the World Bank to provide employment, training and mentoring opportunities to graduates of the Gospel Rescue Ministries program. "This is an organization that my daughter Liz knows about, because she works at the World Bank," Mrs. Cheney said. "They're doing good work, and we wanted to help them with it on Thanksgiving Day."

The Cheney women stayed about half an hour, serving food to the first group of about 70 visitors before heading home for their own Thanksgiving celebration with -- Mrs. Cheney said -- "turkey, grandchildren and a puppy that's unmanageable."