HOUSTON (December 20, 2012)—Former President George H.W. Bush's month-long stay in a Houston hospital for treatment of a bronchitis-related cough appears to be nearing an end, spokesman Jim McGrath said Thursday.

McGrath said Bush might be released from the Methodist Hospital over the weekend and be home in time Christmas.

Hospital officials have said the 88-year-old former president is steadily improving and that he's been receiving physical therapy to increase his strength.

Bush has been in the hospital since Nov. 23.

He also was in the hospital with a cough for about a week in early November.

Bush and his wife, Barbara, spend winters at their home in Houston and summers at their home in Kennebunkport, Maine.