At the White House, President Joe Biden spent a quiet Christmas with his family and spoke with service members stationed all over the world.
“They’re away from their families to protect us,” Biden said in a tweet. “And they have the thanks of a grateful, indebted president.”
According to the White House, Biden and the first lady, Jill, called Army personnel stationed in Panama City; the Navy in the Arabian Sea aboard the USS Sullivan; the Marine Corps at the San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot; the Japanese Air Force on Okinawa; the European Space Force; and the Coast Guard in Alameda, California, aboard the cutter Bertholf.
Biden’s second Christmas as president comes this year. Biden and his family continued their Italian dinner as a Christmas tradition on Saturday by attending Christmas Eve Mass at the White House.
With their second holiday visit to Children’s National Hospital on Friday, the president and first lady continued another tradition. According to the White House, Biden was the first sitting president to accompany his wife when they went to visit hospitalized children and their families before Christmas last year.
The first lady read “The Snowy Day” while the president held up the book in front of Christmas trees and other holiday decorations.
In a recorded speech last week, Biden called out the nation’s political divisions and said he hoped that “this holiday season will drain the poison that has infected our politics and set us against one another.”
“So, this Christmas, let’s spread a little kindness,” he said.