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  (Photo: White House)
  President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama deliver a Christmas greeting for 2012.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama recently appeared in their first joint interview since being elected into the White House once again last month and held little back when talking about keeping their love alive and raising their daughters.

In the "Nightline" interview that aired the day after Christmas, interviewer Barbara Walters questioned the first family about how the pair keep the fire in their marriage alive.

"We've been married now 20 years, and like every marriage I think you have your ups and you have your downs," the president told Walters while sitting closely to his wife. "But if you work through the tough times, the respect and the love that you feel deepens."

Mrs. Obama agreed with her husband adding, "And then there's a lot of laughter you know."

When asked about 14-year-old daughter Malia who recently received her first cell phone, the first lady said she gives her daughter some freedom while monitoring her phone usage.

"I give my daughter at this age, I give her a long rope," Mrs. Obama told Walters. "And there is monitoring because we have rules but monitoring may be you never know when I'm going to walk into your room and I'm going to ask you 'who are you talking to and are you talking about school work?'"

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The president chimed in, joking about his daughters giving him incentive to return to the White House.

"And they're not very good at lying. We joke sometimes about how Malia's getting to the age now and boys start calling," Obama said in the "Nightline" interview. "I always talk about how one of the main incentives for running was continuing Secret Service protection so that there are men with guns around at all times."

However, Mrs. Obama said that both she and the president are attempting to give their children a normal life.

"Our goal is to try to make sure their lives here are as normal as they can be," she said.