Barack Obama Surprised Kids With Presents and Wore a Santa Hat

Former President Barack Obama is ready to spread some Christmas cheer this holiday season.

Just two miles away from the White House on Thursday, the 44th president wore a Santa Claus hat and leather jacket to play with kids at the Jelleff Club, a boys and girls club in Washington, D.C. A video his communications director posted showed him laughing and carrying a bag full of presents, with dozens of cheering, ecstatic kids crowding around him and shaking his hand. "Here's some Christmas cheer," she wrote. "Check out @BarackObama surprising kids at the boys and girls club."

Obama himself tweeted about his jolly afternoon, writing, "There's no better time than the holiday season to reach out and give back to our communities. Great to hear from young people at the Boys & Girls Club in DC today."

The former president and former first lady, Michelle Obama, have been fairly active since leaving 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., making appearances all over the country. Obama appeared in a robocall last week in Alabama, urging voters to get out and vote for Doug Jones over opponent Roy Moore in the state's special Senate election.

The pair also has made other, similar visits to schools and community centers. In September, the former president strolled into a classroom at McKinley Technology High School, also in the District of Columbia, saying, "Hey, how's it going everybody?...You don't mind me crashing, right?" as a room full of teenagers stared at him in shock.

Obama's afternoon as cool Santa is another addition to his legacy as child-whisperer in chief. The hashtag "#ObamaAndKids" trended in 2016 after Michael Skolnik was inspired by a now famous photograph taken of President Obama touching a young boy's face as he stared up at the president in awe during a Black History Month celebration at the White House.

He tweeted it out with the hashtag he had created and the caption, "We'll never truly be able to measure the impact that President @BarackObama has had on our children." Soon enough, even the first lady joined in on the trend as thousands of people posted pictures of POTUS and his little pals.

Other famous pictures of Obama and kids are often featured on the Instagram account of former White House photographer Pete Souza, like one famous one in which Obama laid on the floor of the Oval Office, playing with a baby dressed in an elephant costume.