'We wish you joy and peace this holiday season' - Read Barack Obama Christmas message

In the photo, Barack, Michelle, Malia and Sasha Obama are seen posing in front of a giant Christmas tree surrounded by a crew of young ‘elves’ and plenty of ornately wrapped gifts. It is not said where or when the photograph was taken but some have suggested it might have be taken last year.

“On behalf of the Obama family, Merry Christmas! We wish you joy and peace this holiday season,” Obama captions the photograph.

On behalf of the Obama family, Merry Christmas! We wish you joy and peace this holiday season. pic.twitter.com/CNFUZrhrBj

- Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 25, 2017

The tweet has garnered over a 1.3m likes and nearly 250,000 retweets after the former president sent it.

The Obamas remain hugely popular even almost a year after Obama left the white house. Earlier this month, Twitter released their yearly analytics that showed the former US president tweeted the most liked tweet of 2017, in fact the most liked tweet of all times.