First lady Melania Trump reacts as she receives gifts from patients at Children's National Hospital, Sammie Burley, left, and Declan McCahan, right, Friday, Dec. 6, 2019, after reading a Christmas book to children at the hospital in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
First lady Melania Trump reacts as she receives gifts from patients at Children's National Hospital, Sammie Burley, left, and Declan McCahan, right, Friday, Dec. 6, 2019, after reading a Christmas book to children at the hospital in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
First lady Melania Trump reads a Christmas book to children as she is seated between patients at Children's National Hospital, Sammie Burley, left, and Declan McCahan, right, Friday, Dec. 6, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
First lady Melania Trump reads a Christmas book to children as she is seated between patients at Children's National Hospital, Sammie Burley, left, and Declan McCahan, right, Friday, Dec. 6, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
First lady Melania Trump reads a Christmas book to children as she is seated between patients at Children's National Hospital, Sammie Burley, left, and Declan McCahan, right, Friday, Dec. 6, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
First lady Melania Trump reads a Christmas book to children as she is seated between patients at Children's National Hospital, Sammie Burley, left, and Declan McCahan, right, Friday, Dec. 6, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
First lady Melania Trump holds hands with Declan McCahan as she arrives to read a Christmas book to children at Children's National Hospital, Friday, Dec. 6, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
First lady Melania Trump holds hands with Declan McCahan as she arrives to read a Christmas book to children at Children's National Hospital, Friday, Dec. 6, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
First lady Melania Trump reacts after Declan McCahan, gave her a gift on behalf of Children's National Hospital, with Sammie Burley, left, Friday, Dec. 6, 2019, after Trump read a Christmas book to children at at the hospital in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
First lady Melania Trump reacts after Declan McCahan, gave her a gift on behalf of Children's National Hospital, with Sammie Burley, left, Friday, Dec. 6, 2019, after Trump read a Christmas book to children at at the hospital in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Melania Trump is continuing the tradition of first ladies reading a story to children too sick to leave the hospital for the holidays.
The White House says the first lady toured a short-stay unit and a surgical unit at Children’s National hospital in Washington on Friday.
She also visited with patients in a playroom and helped make snowflakes with them.
Mrs. Trump came down to the atrium afterward and sat with two patients in front of a towering Christmas tree to read “Oliver the Ornament Meets Belle.”
The story is a sequel to the one she read at the hospital in 2018.
The tradition of a Christmastime visit with hospitalized children by a first lady dates back decades.
