President Barack Obama, along with both his daughters Sasha and Malia, went ahead Wednesday with the annual White House tradition of pardoning a Thanksgiving gobble named “Abe”.

Abe is an 18-week-old, 40 pound bird hailing from California’s Central Valley.

“It is hard to believe that this is my seventh year of pardoning turkeys,” POTUS said. “Time flies, even if turkeys don’t.”

Obama appropriately dubbed the turkey “TOTUS”, or the “Turkey of the United States”.

You can watch the event here:

You may recall last year when the Obama daughters got grief from the media for looking glum and disinterested during the riveting ceremony.

See if you can spot the difference: