For many of us, the week transitioning from Christmas to the New Years is probably one of the most cheer-filed occasions in our year. Parties going off all over the place, strangers exchanging holiday greetings with each other with a smile, and hard-working parents taking time off from their work to spend time with their families. And the President is apparently not one to miss out on the festivities.
President Barack Obama arrived in his home state, Hawaii, on Dec. 22 for the first family’s annual tradition of spending the holidays in their vacation house at Kailua. They are expected to return to Washington on Jan. 5, 2015.
Like most Americans going on vacation, the President aims to do a lot of things while he is in the locale. His itinerary includes golfing on Hawaii’s many golf courses, snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, hiking the Maunawili Falls trail, and dining at Waikiki. On Christmas Day, he visited the military members in Anderson Hall at the Marine Corps Base in Kaneohe Bay to express his gratitude for the Marines’ dedication to their duty.
While he looks forward to spending the entirety of his holidays, he is not completely cut off from his presidential responsibilities. Shortly before his trip for Hawaii, President Obama was asked to attend the funeral service for fallen NYPD officer Rafael Ramos. Although he did not attend the service personally, he sent Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden to appear in his stead and expressed his condolences to New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton over the phone.
Now halfway through his vacation, the White House has yet to release the complete rundown of what the first family did during their first week of vacation time.
This would be the sixth time that the Obamas spent their holidays in Hawaii for the past five years.
By Antonio Torrijos