Weekly Address: The President and First Lady Wish Everyone a Happy Holiday Season 每周演讲：总统和第一夫人祝大家节日快乐

WASHINGTON, DC—In this week’s address, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama wished everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. They also thanked our brave troops and their families for their service and sacrifice, and reminded everyone to visit JoiningForces.gov to find ways to give back to our military families this year. Both the President and First Lady said that during this holiday season, we should all come together to find ways to support our communities, continue caring for each other and keep working to be the best parents, children, friends, neighbors, and citizens we can be. 华盛顿——在本周的演讲中，奥巴马总统和第一夫人米歇尔.奥巴马祝大家圣诞快乐和节日幸福。他们还对勇敢的军人及其家人表示感谢，感谢他们的服务和牺牲，并提醒大家访问网站JoiningForces.gov，找到方法在今年回馈我们的军人家庭。总统和第一夫人都表示，在这个节日期间，我们都应该一起找到支持我们的社区的方法，继续彼此照顾，继续努力尽我们所能，成为最好的父母、孩子、朋友、邻居和公民。

Remarks of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
December 25, 2013
巴拉克.奥巴马总统和第一夫人米歇尔.奥巴马讲话
每周演讲
白宫
2013年12月25日

THE PRESIDENT: Hello everybody, and happy holidays. 总统：大家好！节日快乐！

THE FIRST LADY: We know how busy this time of year is for everyone, so we’re not going to take much of your time. 第一夫人：我们知道，大家此刻都非常忙，所以，我们不会占用你们太多时间。

But we did want to take a moment to wish you all a Merry Christmas, from our family to yours. 但是，我们确实希望花点时间，代表我们家庭向各位表示问候，祝大家圣诞节快乐！

THE PRESIDENT: This is a season for millions of Americans to be together with family, to continue long-held holiday traditions, and to show our gratitude to those we love. And along the way, some of us might even watch a little basketball or eat some Christmas cookies, too. 总统：对数百万美国人来说，这是一个与家庭团聚的节日，延续长期保持的节日传统，对我们深爱的人表达感激之情。这过程中，我们中有些人，也许还会看会篮球或吃点圣诞小甜饼。

THE FIRST LADY: Here at the White House, over the past few weeks, we’ve had about 70,000 people from all across the country come visit us and look at our holiday decorations. 第一夫人：这里是白宫，过去数周，我们接待了来自全国各地的约70,000名宾客到访，他们参观了我们的节日装饰。

This year’s theme was “Gather Around: Stories of the Season.” 今年的主题是“聚拢起来：节日的故事。”

And in every room of the house, we tried to tell a story about who we are as Americans and how we celebrate the holidays together. 在白宫的每一个房间，我们都试图讲述有关我们作为美国人是谁和我们如何一起庆祝节日的故事。

And we made certain to highlight some of the most powerful stories we know – the stories of our outstanding troops, veterans, and military families and their service and sacrifice for our country. 我们确保突出我们所知道的一些最感人的故事——我们杰出的军人、老兵和军人家庭的故事，还有他们为美国做出的服务和牺牲的故事。

THE PRESIDENT: Our extraordinary men and women in uniform are serving so that the rest of us can enjoy the blessings we cherish during the holidays. But that means many of our troops are far from home and far from family. They’re spending some extra time on the phone with their loved ones back home. Or they’re setting up video chats so they can watch as the presents are opened. So today, we want all of our troops to know that you’re in our thoughts and prayers this holiday season. 总统：我们出色的男女军人正在服役，这样，我们其他人才能在节日期间享受我们所珍视的祝福。这意味着，我们的军人中的许多人，都要远离家乡，都要远离家庭。他们正花额外的时间与返乡的亲人们通电话。或者，他们正建立视频聊天，这样就可以观看礼物被打开的瞬间。我们希望我们的所有军人们都知道，这个假期，你们在我们的心里，在我们的祈祷中。

And here’s the good news: For many of our troops and newest veterans, this might be the first time in years that they’ve been with their families on Christmas. In fact, with the Iraq war over and the transition in Afghanistan, fewer of our men and women in uniform are deployed in harm’s way than at any time in the last decade. 这里有好消息：对于我们的军人和最新老兵中的许多人，这也许是多年来的第一次，他们与家人共度圣诞。事实上，随着伊拉克战争结束和阿富汗过渡阶段的启动，相比过去十年中的任意时刻，部署到不安全地方的美国男女军人都更少了。

THE FIRST LADY: And that’s something we all can be thankful for. 第一夫人：这是我们大家可以为之感到欣慰的事情。

And with more and more of our troops back here at home, now it’s our turn to serve – it’s our turn to step up and show our gratitude for the military families who have given us so much. 随着我们的军人越来越多地返回故土，现在是我们服务的时候了——是增强和展示我们对给予了我们如此之多的军人家庭感谢的时候了！

And that’s why Jill Biden and I started our Joining Forces initiative – to rally all Americans to support our military families in ways large and small. 正是出于这一原因，吉尔.拜登和我发起了“支持军队”计划——召集全体美国人以或大或小的方式，支持我们的军人家庭。

And again and again, we have been overwhelmed by the response we’ve gotten as folks from across the country have found new ways to give back to these families through their schools, businesses, and houses of worship. 一次又一次，我们被我们得到的回应所感动，来自全国各地的同胞，已经找到了通过他们的学校、企业和宗教场所，回馈这些家庭的新方法。

THE PRESIDENT: That’s the same spirit of giving that connects all of us during the holidays. So many people all across the country are helping out at soup kitchens, buying gifts for children in need, or organizing food or clothing drives for their neighbors. For families like ours, that service is a chance to celebrate the birth of Christ and live out what He taught us – to love our neighbors as we would ourselves; to feed the hungry and look after the sick; to be our brother’s keeper and our sister’s keeper. And for all of us as Americans, regardless of our faith, those are values that can drive us to be better parents and friends, better neighbors and better citizens. 总统：这是节日期间把我们大家都连接起来的同样的给予精神。在全国各地，有如此多的人正在施粥所帮忙、为需要的的孩子们购买礼物、为他们的邻居组织食物或服装运动。对于像我们这样的家庭，这一功德，是庆祝基督诞生和践行他的教导的机会——像爱我们自己那样去爱我们的邻居；为挨饿的人提供食物，照看病人；对我们的兄弟姐妹的行动负责。对作为美国人的我们，无论我们的信仰如何，这些都是可以推动我们成为更好的父母、更好的朋友、更好的邻居和更好的公民的价值观。

THE FIRST LADY: So as we look to the New Year, let’s pledge ourselves to living out those values by reaching out and lifting up those in our communities who could use a hand up. 第一夫人：所以，在我们展望新年之际，让我们通过帮助和支持我们社区中可能需要帮助的人们，保证践行这些价值观。

THE PRESIDENT: So Merry Christmas, everyone. And from the two of us, as well as Malia, Sasha, Grandma, Bo… 总统：祝大家圣诞快乐！这一问候，来自我和米歇尔，还有玛莉亚、萨莎、奶奶、波……

THE FIRST LADY: And Sunny, the newest Obama. 第一夫人：还有萨尼，奥巴马家的新成员。

THE PRESIDENT: We wish you all a blessed and safe holiday season. 总统：我们祝愿大家节日快乐、平安！

THE FIRST LADY： Happy holidays everybody, and God bless. 第一夫人：祝大家节日快乐！谢谢！