HOUSTON -- Former President George H.W. Bush will remain in the Houston Methodist Hospital through the weekend; the senior Bush was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday night after complaining of shortness of breath.

"President Bush's condition has improved to the point that doctors have begun discussing dates for his discharge," Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said in a released statement. But McGrath confirmed that the 90-year-old former president will be held at least through the weekend.

Bush "asked that his sincere wishes for a very Merry Christmas be extended to one and all," according to McGrath.

Bush has been confined to a scooter and wheelchair as a result of a form of Parkinson's. Two years ago, the elder Bush spent to two months in the hospital over the holidays for complications from bronchitis.

Despite the health problems, the former president had appeared to be more active and in better spirits the past few months. He is the country's oldest living president.Brooks Hays