Obama Makes Christmas Day Visit To Marine Base

December 26, 2008 2:57 a.m. EST

Oahu, HI (AHN) - President-elect Barack Obama visited service men and women and their families during Christmas dinner on Thursday in Hawaii, his former home state where he is vacationing with his family during the holidays.

After a day spent with his wife Michelle and their two daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7 at their rented beachfront home in Kailua, the president-elect greeted Marines and their families at the base at Kaneohe Bay on Oahu island. He spent about an hour in the mess hall where military personnel were having dinner, stopping by tables to chat briefly.

The previous day, he had paid tribute to "the brave men and women who serve our country far from home" in his weekly radio address.

"Their extraordinary and selfless sacrifice is an inspiration to us all, and part of the unbroken line of heroism that has made our freedom and prosperity possible for over two centuries... Michelle and I have them in our prayers this Christmas, and we must all continue to offer them our full support in the weeks and months to come," he said in his message also recorded on video and posted on the transition website.

Obama, who will officially become the next commander-in-chief on Jan. 20, is on a 12-day vacation in Hawaii, where he was raised by his late grandmother, Madelyn Dunham. His schedule has been quiet, consisting mainly of daily workouts at the gym in Kaneohe Bay, a golf game and walks on the beach.

On Tuesday, he attended a private church service for his grandmother, who died just two days before election night. The hour-long service was held at the First Unitarian Church in Honolulu. Obama later that day went to a place called Lanai Lookout to scatter his grandmother's ashes to the sea.

Dunham, a Kansas woman who worked her way up from secretary to bank vice president while raising Obama until he left Hawaii for college, was known as "Toot" to her family. The president-elect, who suspended his campaign in October to visit her while she was gravely ill, had called her one of the nation's silent heroes in an emotional speech a day before his victory.