"The president plans to stay at home tonight and ring in the New Year with family and friends," the White House said in a brief statement released late yesterday.
The White House shortly after midnight tweeted a picture of the president planting a kiss on the cheek of a beaming First Lady Michelle Obama, beneath a garland of mistletoe.
"Happy New Year!" read the photo caption.
Obama has been on holiday in Hawaii, his birth state, for a two-week break. He returns to Washington on Sunday.