WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, helped a local food kitchen prepare Thanksgiving meals for the needy before leaving town — like millions of other Americans — to resume their family tradition of spending the holiday on tiny Nantucket island in Massachusetts.

Jill Biden kicked off the holiday season at the White House on Monday when she received the official White House Christmas tree — an 18 1/2-foot (5.6 meter) Fraser fir cut from a North Carolina farm that she declared “magnificent.” The tree is destined for the Blue Room as the showstopper of Christmas at the White House — Biden’s first as president.

Some Biden family members were at the White House this week.

The White House has not said how Biden, who turned 79 last Saturday, plans to spend his time on Nantucket.