Jenna calls home on Ellen show

When US chat show host Ellen DeGeneres suggested that Jenna Bush, the First Daughter, phone her parents during the taping of her show this week, the 26-year-old looked genuinely shocked: "They're going to kill me... I'm going to be in so much trouble." "No, they're going to be thrilled," DeGeneres said. "Why wouldn't they want to say 'Hi' to everybody and say Merry Christmas?"

Jenna, who was on the show to promote her book, Ana's Story, based on her experiences as a UNICEF worker in Panama, gingerly dialled the White House and got through to her mother on speakerphone.

"I'm just sitting here with daddy," Laura Bush told her daughter. DeGeneres chimed in: "Oh hey! It's Ellen. I wanted to say hi to daddy." And so the president got on the line: "How's my little girl doing?"

DeGeneres explained the situation to the President and said: "Now she's scared she's not going to get any Christmas presents." Bush said he wasn't angry. "I do want to say Merry Christmas to your audience, and I want to tell my little girl I love her," the President said. "I love you too, Dad," Jenna responded.

Viewers are still trying to figure out whether the call was impromptu or very carefully stage-managed. ·