happy holidays. merry christmas from our family to yours. this is the season for millions of americans to be together with family, to continue with long-held holiday traditions and to show our gratitude to those we love. for many of our troops and newest veterans, this might be the first time in years they ve been with their family on christmas. with the iraq war over and the transition in afghanistan, fewer of our men and women in uniform are deployed in harm s day than at any time during the first decade. reporter: the first lady calling on all americans to do their part to support military families. now it s our turn to serve, step up and show gratitude for the military families who have given us so much. reporter: now this accommodation you spoke about at the beginning is getting a lot of attention. the administration says they re making their every effort to make sure people who made their best efforts enroll in a health insurance plan by the deadline
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. that s something that we all can be thankful for. the first family also urged americans positive support local communities that can use a hand. mrs. obama had a little christmas fun. she spent half an hour taking phone calls from children calling the norad santa tracker hot line, the aerospace defense command tracks santa s progress every year and has over 1,000 volunteers helping update callers from around the world. the tradition dates back to the 1950s. it s moved online in 1998. no secret about this message from edward snowden, the nsa leaker, delivered a traditional alternative christmas message to the united kingdom, assailing the level of global surveillance.
lanstuhl. the president and first lady paid tribute to the nation s troops as part of their annual holiday message. listen. many of our troops and newest veterans, this might be the first time in years that they have 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. and that s something that we all can be thankful for. and for the president, an early christmas gift of sorts, signups for obama care surges as americans scramble to meet those enrollment deadlines and for those who had a hard time getting coverage, there may still be help available. reporter: it turns out a lot of americans are last-minute shoppers even when it comes to health care. the federal exchange
the rest of us can enjoy the blessings we cherish during the holidays. that means many of our troops are far away from home and far from family. they re spending some extra time on the phone with their loved ones back home or setting up video chats, so they can watch as the presents are opened. so today we want all our troops to know you are in our thoughts and prayers this holiday season. here s the good news. for many of ours 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 any time in the last decade. that s something we can all be thankful for. with more and more of our troops back home, now it s our turn to serve, our turn to step of and show our gratitude. that s why jill biden and i
christmas. i m brianna keelner washington. wolf blitzer is off today. a merry christmas message from the president. he offered a heartfelt thanks to the troops overseas but also offered this nugget. here s the good news. for many of our troops and newest veterans, this might be the first time in years 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. and that s something that we all can be thankful for 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. our athena jones is in honolulu, hawaii, working very hard on this holiday where the obamas are on vacation. maybe not surprising president obama didn t mention health care in his christmas message, but that s certainly something