President Obama and first lady Michelle welcome the Trumps to the White House

By Ashley Collman

Donald Trump has arrived at the house he will call home for the next four years.

The President-elect and his wife Melania were greeted on the steps of the White House by President Obama and first lady Michelle Friday morning, ahead of the swearing-in ceremony. 

Mr Obama asked the President-elect how he was doing as the two shook hands. Melania Trump then gave Mrs Obama a hug before handing over a large gift box from Tiffany's.  

The two couples are meeting for tea in the White house, and will later travel together to the Capitol Building where Mr Trump will be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States.

Trump was up early Friday morning - going about business as usual by tweeting.  

'It all begins today!' Trump tweeted at daybreak. 'THE MOVEMENT CONTINUES - THE WORK BEGINS!'

He left Blair House, where he spent Thursday night, around 8:30am to attend a church service at St. John's Episcopal Church.  All of his children were in attendance with him Friday morning, except his youngest son Barron, age 10.

As President-elect Trump and his family attended church, President Obama was seen leaving a letter for the new president on the Resolute Desk of the Oval Office - a long-standing Inauguration Day tradition. 

When asked if he was feeling nostalgic, as he walked back into the White House, President Obama said 'of course!' 

Another reported asked if he had one last word for the American people and he said 'Thanks'.

In a phone call with Good Morning America on Friday, the mogul-turned-politician's eldest son Donald Trump Jr said he was raring to get the day's events going.

'He's doing great. He doing well. He's just excited to do this,' Donald Jr said of his father. 'He's amazed and thrilled that the American people have intrusted him to take this country in a different direction - to bring it forward and to do things and to give them that voice that he mentioned last night, that has been gone for so long. So it's just truly incredible.'

In another interview, son Eric said his main fear for his father's presidency was the fact that he's going to be surrounded by a new group of people. 

'I think having a lot of new people around him,' Eric Trump told CBS. 'And, you know, as a family, we’ve always been a little bit insular -- you know, it was my father, it was Don, Ivanka, you know, myself... the company. And we were very, very close. And I think that’s going to be an adjustment. 

But he has amazing people.'

When asked if his father stayed up late Thursday night, working on his Inaugural Address, Donald Jr said his father had been writing it for 'quite some time' - making sure to get it just right. Donald Jr says his father realizes the magnitude of the speech and how it will set the tone for his presidency. 

'He spent a lot of time with that and now I think it's about execution,' Donald Jr said. 

Donald Trump Jr will be standing behind his father at 11:30am this morning outside the Capitol Building, as he takes the oath of office and then gives his Inaugural Address.  The newly sworn-in president and his family will then watch the Inaugural Parade from a covered area outside the White House.

Ebullient Trump supporters flocked to the nation's capital for the inaugural festivities, some wearing red hats emblazoned with his 'Make America Great Again' campaign slogan. But in a sign of deep divisions Trump sowed during his combative campaign, dozens of Democratic lawmakers were boycotting the swearing-in ceremony on Capitol Hill.

While Trump came to power bucking convention, he was wrapping himself in the traditional pomp and pageantry that accompanies the peaceful transfer of power. The president-in-waiting will attend church with his family Friday morning, then meet President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama for tea at the White House. The Trumps and the Obamas will travel together in the presidential limousine for the short trip to the Capitol for the noon swearing-in ceremony.

Trump supporters started lining up at security checkpoints before dawn to take their places in the quadrennial rite of democracy.

'I'm here for history,' said Kevin Puchalski, a 24-year-old construction worker who drove from Philadelphia to attend the swearing-in. 'This is the first president that I voted for that won.' His big hope: Trump builds that promised wall on the U.S.-Mexican border. 'Keep the illegals out,' he said.

Protesters, too, were out early, some wearing orange jumpsuits with black hoods over their faces.

Trump aides said the president-elect had been personally invested in crafting his inaugural address, a relatively brief 20-minute speech that is expected to center on his vision for what it means to be an American. Spokesman Sean Spicer said the address would be 'less of an agenda and more of a philosophical document.'

Trump has pledged to upend Obama's major domestic and national security policies, including repealing his signature health care law and building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. But he's offered few details of how he plans to accomplish his agenda, often sending contradictory signals.

The three days of inaugural festivities kicked off Thursday. Trump left his Trump-branded jet in New York and flew to Washington in a government plane, saluting an Air Force officer as he descended the steps with his wife, Melania. He and the incoming vice president, Mike Pence, solemnly laid a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery before joining supporters for an evening concert at the Lincoln Memorial.

We're going to unify our country,' Trump said at the close of the two-hour concert featuring country star Toby Keith, soul's Sam Moore and The Piano Guys. But not singer Jennifer Holliday: She backed out after an outcry from Trump critics.

With rain a possibility, the National Park Service announced that it was easing its 'no umbrella' policy for Friday, allowing collapsible umbrellas along the parade route and on the National Mall.

The nation's soon-to-be president joked about the chance of a downpour. 'That's OK,' Trump told campaign donors at an event Thursday night, 'because people will realize it's my real hair.'

'Might be a mess, but they're going to see that it's my real hair,' he said.

Whatever the weather, Trump supporters were looking ahead to the day.

Chris Lehmann, 55, a maintenance supervisor from Belmar, New Jersey, said: 'I'm so excited, I'm like, on top of the world.'

Eleanor Haven, 83, of Alexander City, Alabama, was attending the festivities with her son, Scott Haven. The pair said they had never been to a political event before attending a Trump 'thank you' tour rally in Alabama after the election and were looking forward to Friday's celebration.

'We're excited for changes in the country,' Scott Haven said.

All of the living American presidents were scheduled to attend the swearing in ceremony, except for 92-year-old George H.W. Bush, who was hospitalized this week with pneumonia. His wife, Barbara, was also admitted to the hospital after falling ill. Trump tweeted his well-wishes to the Bushes, saying he was 'looking forward to a speedy recovery.'

Hillary Clinton, Trump's vanquished campaign rival, also planned to join dignitaries at Capitol Hill.

While Trump revels in a celebratory lunch with lawmakers and parade down Pennsylvania Avenue — passing his newly opened Washington hotel - workers at the White House will set about the frantic process of moving out the Obamas and preparing the residence for its new occupants. Moving trucks were on standby Friday morning at the White House.

Obama, who will continue to live in Washington, was leaving town with his family after the inauguration for a vacation in Palm Springs, California. He planned to address a farewell gathering of staff at Joint Base Andrews before boarding his last flight on the military aircraft that ferries presidents on their travels.