It’s usually just the first lady who delivers the White House staffers' gifts to the needy but this year she had a little helper, President Barack Obama himself. Introducing himself as the “big elf” and bellowing “ho, ho, ho,” the President delivered giant red sacks filled with toys at the Marine Corps' annual Toys for Tots campaign on Wednesday.

President Obama delivered toys to the Marine Corps' annual Toys for Tots campaign

The presidential pair brought about 1,000 items to the Washington military base, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, where unwrapped toys are collected.

Obama declared "ho, ho, ho," at the toy drive

“That's a pretty serious ho, ho, ho,” Michelle Obama said of her husband’s greeting to the crowd, adding, “We're going to break you in slowly, okay?”

Of the annual event Michelle said: “One of the challenges is making sure that we have enough toys for the older kids. It's always fun to buy the Barbie dolls and the coloring books, but we have to remember that there are teenagers out there too that need those gifts.”

“And we try to make it a point to make sure that we're buying cool clothes for kids and electronic products and educational materials for teenagers as well.”

The first couple brought around 1,000 items to the military base on Wednesday

The president thanked the Marine Corps for starting the annual toy drive in the 1940s but wasn’t so helpful sorting out which gifts were for boys and which were for girls.

Michelle declared, “I don't know how good he'll be with sorting, because he doesn't usually deal in shopping in any kind of way.”

Michelle Obama traditionally gives out the gifts alone but was joined by her husband this year

She continued “But we'll watch him closely to see if he can figure out which ones are girls' zero-to-two or unisex. It gets really complicated, so watch him, because he could really make your work harder.”

Michelle certainly takes the lead with holiday preparations, last week she showed off the White House’s beautiful holiday decorations to military families.

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