WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden kicked off his final holiday season at the White House on Monday by issuing the traditional reprieve to two turkeys who will bypass the Thanksgiving table to live out their days in southern Minnesota.

The 82-year-old president welcomed 2,500 guests to the South Lawn under sunny skies as he cracked jokes about the fates of turkeys Peach and Blossom and sounded wistful about the last weeks of his presidency after a half-century in Washington power circles.

“It’s been the honor of my life. I’m forever grateful,” Biden said, taking note of his impending departure on Jan. 20, 2025. That’s when power will transfer to Republican President-elect Donald Trump, the man defeated by Biden four years ago and was battling again until he was pressured to bow out of the race amid concerns about his age and viability.

Until Inauguration Day, the president and first lady Jill Biden will continue a busy run of festivities that will double as their long goodbye. The White House schedule in December is replete with holiday parties.

Biden relished the brief ceremony with the pardoned turkeys, named for the official flower of the president’s home state of Delaware.

“The peach pie in my state is one of my favorites,” he said during remarks that were occasionally interrupted by Peach gobbling atop the table to Biden’s right.

“Peach is making a last-minute plea,” Biden said at one point, drawing laughter from an overflow crowd.

Biden introduced Peach as a bird who “lives by the motto, ‘Keep calm and gobble on.’ ” Blossom, the president said, has a different motto: “No fowl play. Just Minnesota nice.”