Obamas Spend Quiet Christmas With Family and Friends

The White House said the first family would be joined on Christmas Day by the president's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, who lives on Oahu, the island where Obama was born and spent most of his childhood. Several of Obama's childhood friends are also in town, along with family friends from Chicago, his home for most of his adult life.

On the first family's Christmas Day menu: steak, roasted potatoes, green beans and pie.

Thus far, Obama's excursions in Hawaii have been mostly to the gym and golf course. On Christmas Eve he visited the beach with his daughters.

Mrs. Obama skipped the beach so she could give some lucky children a Christmas surprise. The first lady answered calls for the "Tracking Santa" program, a Christmas tradition run by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD. With help from NORAD's Santa Route Schedule, Mrs. Obama was able to tell children Santa's whereabouts as he made his Christmas Eve rounds. Read more at Star Advertiser