Ehrlich puts up final holiday display

ANNAPOLIS, Md., Dec. 18 (UPI) -- During his years in office, Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich Jr. has built a reputation as a friend of Christmas.

In 2005, Ehrlich mailed 40,000 Christmas cards -- more than any other governor in the United States, and he overrode a state law prohibiting the transport of reindeer into the state with a declaration of clemency for any airborne reindeer traveling in Maryland airspace "during the very late hours of Dec. 24," The Washington Post reported Monday.

However, the governor's holiday spirit is perhaps best shown through the impressive holiday displays set up at the governor's mansion every year. What was once little more than a few lights and wreaths transformed when Ehrlich took office into a winter wonderland of dancing snowmen and inflatable Santas.

"There were, of course, a few people horrified at the inflatable Santas," said Gregory Stiverson, president of the Historic Annapolis Foundation. "Annapolis, after all, is nothing if not hidebound in tradition. But generally, I think people enjoyed seeing a young couple with young children and fun things for kids at the mansion."