Pres. Obama & family attend Christmas church services

President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Malia and Sasha arrive to attend Christmas service at the Kaneohe bay Chapel on Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011, in Kaneohe, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

  By JULIE PACEHONOLULU -- After spending a quiet Christmas morning with his family, President Barack Obama attended church services Sunday at a Marine base near his rented Hawaiian vacation home.

The Obamas made the short drive from their multimillion-dollar Kailua Beach house to the chapel at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. The president dressed casually in dark khaki pants and a short-sleeve blue shirt, and his wife and daughters donned sundresses for Christmas services on a bright and breezy day on the island of Oahu.

The Obamas have been spending the holiday with a small group of friends and family, including the president's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, who lives in Hawaii with her family.

On Christmas Eve, the president made phone calls to 10 service members stationed around the world, two from each branch of the military. The White House said he thanked them for their service and the sacrifice of being away from their families at the holidays.

Obama has kept a low profile since arriving in Hawaii on Friday evening to start a vacation delayed by the stalemate in Washington over extending payroll tax cuts. He has no public events planned, and his only outings are expected to be to the golf course or to take his daughters for shave ice, a Hawaiian snow cone.

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Associated Press writer Jaymes Song in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, contributed to this report.

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Family, friends attend wake for Officer Figoski

  NEW YORK (WABC) -- Hundreds of officers, friends, and family came together on Long Island Saturday to remember a New York City police officer killed in the line of duty.

Officer Peter Figoski was killed while responding to a call in Brooklyn on Monday.

He shot once in the face when he responded to a report of a break-in, and he died hours later. His death is felt by law enforcement officials across the area; men and women in blue who along with Figoski's family mourn his loss.

He has four daughters, two in high school and two in college.

The four grieving daughters walked into the funeral home in Babylon, a start to the goodbyes to their fallen father.

"You couldn't get a more doting father. His four lovely daughters they were his life," Former NYPD officer Ricky Giordano said.

Tear-filled daughters, siblings, parents followed in by Officer Figoski's family on the force.

"You didn't lose just a coworker, you lost a dear friend. Everybody knew him. Guys are coming up to me like it's my loss, yeah it is my loss because he was a best friend, he was a brother to me, but it's everyone who knew him's loss," Giordano said.

The officer's former partner of ten years recalled the man honored as being a hero every day of his 22 years in the NYPD.

Not just on that dark Brooklyn street Monday morning when he was so savagely shot in the head. "Here's an officer taken from us in the prime of his life, killed for simply doing his job. He was responding to a call, never had a chance to defend himself," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

It is that dedication to the community he served these officers carry heavily in their hearts as they wait in line to pay their respects.

Grieving for a man whose death friends say so sadly reflects a life lived with pure honor.

"He had an aura about him that was of pure dedication to his loved ones, to his community, to the city of New York," friend Liz O'Handley.

The wake continues Sunday from 2 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. at Boyd Funeral Home, 448 West Main Street, Babylon, NY.

Funeral Mass will be held Monday morning at 11:00 a.m. at St. Josephs Church, 39 North Carll Avenue, Babylon, NY.

Police arrested five suspects in connection to the shooting.

(Copyright ©2011 WABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more New York News »

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