{"id":30317,"date":"2016-12-27T10:57:09","date_gmt":"2016-12-27T18:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=30317"},"modified":"2016-12-27T10:57:09","modified_gmt":"2016-12-27T18:57:09","slug":"weekly-address-merry-christmas-from-the-president-the-first-lady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=30317","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Address: Merry Christmas From The President &#038; The First Lady"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;In this week\u2019s address, the President and the First Lady wished all Americans a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. They reflected on the honor of serving the American people as President and First Lady over the past eight years and the progress that has been made. The President and the First Lady recognized our troops and their families for their service, and they encouraged everyone to visit JoiningForces.gov to find out how to support service members, veterans, and military families in your community.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/cutecouple.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/cutecouple.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"357\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-30318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/cutecouple.png 640w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/cutecouple-300x167.png 300w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/cutecouple-123x70.png 123w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/cutecouple-254x141.png 254w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/cutecouple-570x318.png 570w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/cutecouple-150x84.png 150w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/cutecouple-500x279.png 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PtKBjuQblqI\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Merry Christmas everybody!  One of the best parts of the holiday season is spending time with the special people in your life.  And for me, that means getting some help from my best friend for our annual Christmas Weekly Address.<\/p>\n<p>THE FIRST LADY: Given how our first Christmas Weekly Address went, I realized that Barack needed all the help he could get. <\/p>\n<p>[PAUSE] <\/p>\n<p>THE FIRST LADY: Celebrating the holidays in the White House over these past eight years has been a true privilege.  We\u2019ve been able to welcome over half a million guests\u2026 our outstanding pastry chefs have baked 200,000 holiday cookies\u2026 and Barack has treated the American people to countless dad jokes.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Although a few got a\u2026Frosty reception.<\/p>\n<p>THE FIRST LADY: This year\u2019s White House holiday theme is \u201cThe Gift of the Holidays,\u201d and our decorations reflect some of our greatest gifts as a nation: from our incredible military families, to the life-changing impact of a great education. <\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: And the greatest gift that Michelle and I have received over the last eight years has been the honor of serving as your President and First Lady.  Together, we fought our way back from the worst recession in 80 years, and got unemployment to a nine-year low.  We secured health insurance for another twenty million Americans, and new protections for folks who already had insurance.  We made America more respected around the world, took on the mantle of leadership in the fight to protect this planet for our kids, and much, much more.<\/p>\n<p>By so many measures, our country is stronger and more prosperous than it was when we first got here.  And I\u2019m hopeful we\u2019ll build on the progress we\u2019ve made in the years to come. <\/p>\n<p>Tomorrow, for the final time as the First Family, we will join our fellow Christians around the world to rejoice in the birth of our Savior.  And as we retell His story from that Holy Night, we\u2019ll also remember His eternal message, one of boundless love, compassion and hope. <\/p>\n<p>THE FIRST LADY:  The idea that we are our brother\u2019s keeper and our sister\u2019s keeper.  That we should treat others as we would want to be treated.  And that we care for the sick\u2026 feed the hungry\u2026 and welcome the stranger\u2026 no matter where they come from, or how they practice their faith. <\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Those are values that help guide not just my family\u2019s Christian faith, but that of Jewish Americans, and Muslim Americans; nonbelievers and Americans of all backgrounds. And no one better embodies that spirit of service than the men and women who wear our country\u2019s uniform and their families. <\/p>\n<p>THE FIRST LADY: As always, many of our troops are far from home this time of year, and their families are serving and sacrificing right along with them.  Their courage and dedication allow the rest of us to enjoy this season.  That\u2019s why we\u2019ve tried to serve them as well as they\u2019ve served this country.  Go to JoiningForces.gov to see how you can honor and support the service members, veterans and military families in your community \u2013 not just during the holidays, but all year round.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: So as we look forward to the New Year, let\u2019s resolve to recommit ourselves to the values we share.  And on behalf of the all the Obamas \u2013 Michelle, Malia, Sasha, Bo, and that troublemaker Sunny \u2013 Merry Christmas, everybody. <\/p>\n<p>THE FIRST LADY: And we wish you and your family a happy and healthy 2017\u2026 thanks, and God bless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;In this week\u2019s address, the President and the First Lady wished all Americans a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. They reflected on the honor of serving the American people as President and First Lady over the past eight years and the progress that has been made. The President and the First Lady recognized our [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1599,"featured_media":30318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,17,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-national-news","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/cutecouple.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1599"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}