Jill Biden has revealed the sweet Christmas gift that husband President Joe Biden gives her every year.
The President and First Lady of the United States discussed their holiday traditions in a joint interview with Drew Barrymore on Monday, who paid a visit to the White House. During the conversation, The Drew Barrymore Show host asked if Joe was a “good gift giver” and if he surprised his spouse “with anything”.
In response, Jill explained that while this isn’t a surprise, there is one personal gift that her husband gives her each Christmas.
“One thing that Joe gives me every year,” she said. “He has a book that he bought for me and every year, he writes a poem.”
When Barrymore asked the president if he “personally writes the poem,” he responded: “Of course I do. There’s a lot to write about.”
The Charlie’s Angels star went on to praise the sentimental gift, adding: “There’s no better present than one that’s made, you know, the one you can’t buy.”
President Biden then noted that just a handmade present “doesn’t quite do it,” prompting Barrymore and Jill to burst into laughter. He also expressed that he still buys presents for his wife.
“I really enjoy shopping for Jill for gifts,” he said, before Jill revealed another birthday gift he gave her one year, which was a “full rose garden” that she “loved”.
Barrymore continued the conversation by asking the president how he felt about his gift for Jill this Christmas.
“Very good, but I can’t tell her,” he responded. “It’s a surprise.”
After Barrymore applauded President Biden’s “confidence,” Jill noted that he “pretty much gets it right” when giving her gifts.
He poked fun at his marriage, joking: “Everybody knows I love her more than she loves me.”
The pair proceeded to open up about their relationship, with the president explaining that they first met when set up on a blind date by his younger brother, Frank.
“When I went out with her the first time, I knew this was the woman, I really did,” he said. “Only twice in my life have I ever fallen in love. Both times I knew immediately.”
The pair married in 1977, five years after Joe’s first wife, Neila Hunter died in a car crash with their one-year-old daughter, Naomi.
President Biden also told Barrymore that Jill offered him a new perspective on love, following the loss of his first wife.
“I once asked her, when she finally agreed to marry me,: ‘How can you marry me knowing how much I loved my first wife?’” he recalled. “She said: ‘Because you love that deeply, you can love that way again.’ I’ll never forget it.”
He then revealed that his two sons were impressed by Jill when they first met her and that when they were children, they once told him that they wanted to “marry” her. Along with Hunter and Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015, President Biden has a 41-year-old daughter, Ashley, who he shares with Jill.
Elsewhere in the interview, the trio played a game of “The Final Five,” where the president and Jill had to answer five questions about each other. During the game, President Biden went on to reveal that he was the first one in their relationship to say “I love you”.
“I said it first,” he explained. “I said it first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth.”
