Iowa’s First Family will be celebrating their first Christmas at Terrace Hill tomorrow. Governor Chet Culver and his family moved into the mansion early this year, shortly after Culver was elected. Culver says they’re looking forward to their first Christmas at Terrace Hill, which was built in 1896. It’s been the "official" home to Iowa’s Governors since 1977.
Chet and Mari Culver have two children. "John is 5 and Clair is 6," Culver says, "so our little ones are really looking forward to Santa coming to Terrace Hill." Last week, the Governor was speaking at a workforce summit and talked about his son John playing Santa, pretending to hand out gifts. He presented one of those "gifts" to his father in the living room.
Culver says his son, acting as Santa, asked "so tell me, is your son being naughty or nice?" Culver responded, "Well, most of the time, John’s being nice. But occasionally he’s naughty." He explained that John is naughty when he refuses to eat the crust on his grilled cheese sandwiches. John (Santa) responded, "Well that’s okay, I hate crust too."