Celebrity Family Traditions: Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Holidays
They may have more pricey presents under the tree and go to much more extravagant holiday parties, but during the most wonderful time of the year, celebrities and their families honor annual holiday traditions just like we do — and many of them are likely the same, or similar to, certain activities you enjoy doing with your family every year for Christmas, Hanukkah, and other wintertime holidays.
You may like to sing carols or show tunes like Reese Witherspoon and Gabrielle Union-Wade; perhaps you love lighting the menorah and playing dreidel like Andy Cohen and Alicia Silverstone; you might enjoy creating a delicious meal in the kitchen like Anthony Anderson and Gwyneth Paltrow, or you may look forward to Santa-related traditions that make the holidays all the more magical like the Hudson–Hawn–Russell family. Or, maybe you like to mix it up like Chrissy Teigen by ordering fast food on Christmas Day instead of having an elaborate, time-consuming meal — because why not deck the halls with McDonald’s? Fa la la la la with a fry on the side!
Ahead, we’re sharing our favorite celebrities’ family traditions during the holidays — if you’re not in the holiday spirit yet, you just might be after reading this.
A version of this article was published in 2022.
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Amal Clooney & George Clooney
During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, George Clooney revealed that his twins Ella and Alexander are becoming more and more like their British-Lebanese mom, Amal.
“Look, I’ve got problems already, which is I’m desperately trying not to make them little Brits,” the Ocean’s Eleven star told Colbert, per Hello! “It’s not a jumper, it’s a sweater. It’s not a boot, it’s the trunk. It’s the pavement, it’s the sidewalk…”
The same is true when it comes to Christmas traditions. “I said, ‘So then we’re going to leave them cookies, and my son goes, ‘No, it’s milk and a mince pie,'” insisting on the preferred British treat for Santa.
Macaulay Culkin & Brenda Song
Macaulay Culkin told E! News in 2024 that he and fiancée Brenda Song “go all out at Christmas.”
“Because right now, [our two sons are] at the magic age where they believe, and we want to nurture that belief,” Culkin said.
The actor star even has a plan for explaining where he’ll be during Dec. 2024 while he’s at nationwide screenings for Home Alone.
“I told them that I’m at Santa’s workshop fixing toys, because that’s what I do for them at home,” he said. “I’m so good that Santa Claus called me up to the North Pole. They’re totally fine with that.”
And yes, just like kids across the country, Culkin’s sons watch the Christmas classic. So much so that Dakota “thinks he’s [Culkin’s character] Kevin.”
“I’m like, ‘Do you remember going down the stairs on the sled?’ He’s like, ‘Mmhmm, yep. Sure do.’ I’m like, ‘Do you remember when he had yellow hair?’ And he’s like, ‘Uh-huh, yep.’ “
Jennifer Garner
For Jennifer Garner — who shares kids Violet, Seraphina, and Samuel with ex Ben Affleck — this time of year is all about treats. “I kind of dive into the kitchen over the holidays. I love it,” Garner told ET in 2023. “I will bake every single morning. I’ll make something big. I’ll have my whole family together — my sisters, my niece, my nephews, my brothers-in-law, of course my parents, and my kids. I can’t wait for it.”
In 2024, she revealed to People that her kids take over the kitchen too. “I have one kid who specializes in mashed potatoes, that’s their specialty, I have one kid who is all about making an apple pie, that’s their specialty, and then I have one who goodness only knows what she will make.”
And it’s not just about the treats for the Garner-Affleck kids. (Although the actress did find Samuel playing Christmas music “full blast” and baking ginger snaps recently — apron and all!)
“We’ll definitely go see The Nutcracker, because that is a huge part of Christmas for me and for my kids—thank goodness I’ve drilled it into them.”
The Kardashians
Christmas is a big deal for the Kardashian-Jenner family. Kris Jenner has been hosting epic Christmas Eve parties since 1978, per Elle, with celebrities in attendance. They also take the most amazing holiday cards, featuring Jenner’s kids Kourtney Kardashian, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, and Kylie Jenner, as well as all her grandkids (she has 13 now!).
Kim has started some traditions of her own, including having pianist Philip Cornish wake up the kids every morning in December with Christmas carols. The Kardashians each have their own amazing decorations, as well, and Elf on the Shelf ideas. There are no Grinches in this family!
Meghan Markle & Prince Harry
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have some special holiday traditions with their kids, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
“We’re creating new [traditions] now that our little ones are growing up. And we’re enjoying every moment of it,” Markle told E! News in Nov. 2023. She also revealed her favorite activity, “I love trimming and decorating the tree with my children.”
Everything’s more fun with the kids!
Zoe Salda?a & Marco Perego
It’s all about family togetherness for Zoe Salda?a, husband Marco Perego, and their boys Cy, Bowie, and Zen.
“For us, it’s always about being around family and storytelling,” she told SheKnows in Nov. 2023. “You know, we really do believe in the folklore of a nation, of a family, of a tribe, of a culture. So it’s always like, nurturing that interest and curiosity and hearing stories from your great grandpa, your grandpa, your uncle, your aunt … on to your cousins and your siblings.”
She added that her boys are “such avid storytelling aficionados.” “They will remind you, like, ‘Hey, can you just tell me that story again?’” Salda?a said with a laugh. “And so for us, it’s always a beautiful thing that after dinner, we’ll have dessert at the table. Everybody is just still wanting to remain close and talk. So my advice is … just make sure you have really comfortable dining chairs.”
Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff and her kids — Luca who she shares with ex Mike Comrie, and Banks, Mae, and Townes who she shares with husband Matthew Koma — have a simple tradition for Christmas.
“So the day of Christmas, after the mayhem and the early morning and the crazy unwrapping and building and whatever is going on — it’s just like an anthill has been stirred up and you’re like, ‘How am I gonna survive this day?’ — we usually all go on a walk as a family,” Duff told SheKnows in Nov. 2023.
During the walk, her kids “look for reindeer prints or any signs of the sleigh,” and they talk or play with neighbors who are also out. “And it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it’s a really nice reset to be on a walk all together,” she says. “Get your shoes on and get outside … it gets everybody out of the house and out of the like, crazy zone of gifts, gifts, toys.”
They also play Christmas tree farm tag. “Something we always do is go pick out our Christmas tree and play tag while my husband buys the tree and gets it on the car,” Duff reveals. “And it’s like my son’s favorite, favorite thing. And this year, I was like, ‘I kind of want to go buy our tree from somewhere else … And [the kids were] like, ‘Absolutely not. We’re going to the same tree farm where we play tag. There’s never anyone there so we can do what we want.’ They love it. It’s the simple memories.”
America Ferrera
One of America Ferrera’s holiday traditions is as stressful as it is fun. She told PEOPLE in Dec. 2023, “Putting up my tree is equal parts like a frustrating disaster and a wonderful joy.”
The Barbie star, who is mom to Sebastian Piers and Lucia Marisol with husband Ryan Piers Williams, continued, “The first year I lived in New York City, I carried my own tree home. It was a small tree. Clearly I’m a small person, but I felt like such an adult going down to this corner bodega, buying my Christmas tree, walking home and decorating it.”
“And now I get to do that with my kids,” she added. “[But] I can’t carry it because we get a bigger tree.”
Dwayne Johnson
In 2022, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson started a new tradition with his youngest daughters, Jasmine and Tia “Gia” Giana, who he shares with wife Lauren Hashian.
He posted on Instagram the day after Christmas, writing, “This year I started a new tradition where I would wake up at 5am (regardless of what time I went to sleep – which was 1am??) shower, get dressed and be downstairs waiting for the little tornados ??? to wake up and come down and wreak complete havoc & chaos ????.”
What a dedicated dad!
Thomas Rhett & Lauren Akins
Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins get a live tree every year for Christmas. “It’s kinda been a rule in our house since I got married to Lauren, but we do not do the fake tree scenario, as much as I have wanted to in the past,” he told Taste of Country. “It would be so easy to have one that’s already lit, you just throw up and then put some lights on, but my wife loves the process of going to the lot, picking the perfect one.”
“We also get a real Christmas tree for each of the girls’ bedrooms,” the country music star, who is dad to Willa Gray, Ada James, Lennon Love, and Lillie Carolina, added. “It’s like 4 feet tall or whatever, and we usually take about two nights and build a fire, put on Home Alone, and get out all the ornaments and let the girls go crazy on the tree.”
Pink
Pink, a proud Jewish woman, sung holiday prayers with her daughter Willow in Dec. 2023. Her son Jameson could be heard in the background wishing his mom a “Happy Hanukkah.”
“Happy Chanukah to all those who celebrate,” the mom of two captioned the post. “May there be light in darkness always. May there be peace in our hearts, our homes, and in the world.”
In November 2022, the singer filmed herself making kugel and sharing her favorite Hanukkah traditions on Instagram Live
Explaining her favorite holiday meal, she said, “You do kugel, and then you can do some Challah bread — which is really fun for the kids to braid the bread … and then we do potato pancakes and then we read the book The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming by Lemony Snicket, which is our favorite book and a very fun tradition for us.”
“What else do we do?” Pink pondered, continuing, “We do matzo ball soup from scratch, which is delicious. We act out [the book] in the kitchen and we scream really, really loud and it’s chaotic and really fun.”
Kate Hudson
Kate Hudson shared her family’s Santa tradition in a 2016 blog post for her Fabletics website, writing, “Every year, Santa comes and leaves presents for the kids out in the open. Sometimes Santa likes to wrap a couple of them but usually, he leaves them open so the kids can see what they are.”
She continued, “The first thing we all do is look in our stockings and look at what Santa’s been noticing about our year. Santa is very clever, he’s very funny so he likes to give the adults very funny presents! And we usually leave Santa something every year.”
Hudson, who is mom to Ryder with ex Chris Robinson, Bingham with ex Matt Bellamy, and Rani Rose with fiance Danny Fujikawa, told PEOPLE in Dec. 2022, “[A] Fujikawa tradition is we put a gift card in a big thing, a huge ball wrapped with newspaper and there are things within it. We do a song, we pass the ball around really fast, and then you have to tear it apart as fast as you can until the song comes on again. It’s a really fun, silly tradition, and everybody’s screaming.”
The Almost Famous star also celebrates Hanukkah. She shared a sweet video lighting the Menorah with Rani and Bingham in Dec. 2023. “Connecting to love, light, miracles and peace tonight on the first day of Hanukkah ?” she captioned it. “Happy Hanukkah everyone ??.”
Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek shares a daughter and a stepson with husband Francois-Henri Pinault, and the family of four does what she calls a “double Christmas.”
“We have to fake one of the days because we have Christmas, Mexican style, with my family, and then we have French style with his family,” Hayek told ET.
Food is also a big part of the holidays. She told PEOPLE, “My mother and I have never not cooked for Christmas. Cooking is a way for families to come together.”
She added, “I don’t have any recipes. I love to go look at the food and make up the recipe as we go. That’s my special thing. I can improvise if we don’t have the right ingredients. When you have kids, you learn to do that.”
Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw, his wife Faith Hill, and their three daughters — Gracie, Maggie, and Audrey — are serious about their holiday traditions. The country singer told Audacy’s Katie & Company that his family of five has spaghetti and meatballs for lunch every New Year’s Eve. After the festive meal, his daughters do karaoke for two hours, singing “every single word” of Hamilton. The McGraw’s also have a special “theme night” during the holiday season.
“It’s based on TV shows or movies, or books sometimes, and [my daughters] pick a theme, and then we’ll have a dinner – the food has to fit the theme as well,” he said. “We’ll put all these characters in a hat, and everybody has to draw a character, and then you have to dress up as that character, but you can only use things that you can find around the house… We did ‘Game of Thrones,’ one night…’Harry Potter,’ one night, so I’m curious to see what they come up with this year.”
Mariah Carey
What does the Queen of Christmas herself look forward to most during the holidays? Mariah Carey told Redbook, “Depending on how many of us are up in [Aspen, Colorado], we get one or two horse-drawn sleighs, and we bundle up and go riding in the snow under the stars. We always drink cocoa with butterscotch schnapps to keep warm, and we sing at the top of our lungs.”
Gabrielle Union & Dwyane Wade
It’s all about Aunt Katie’s cookies in the Union-Wade household at Christmastime. The Bring It On icon told People in 2016, “My Aunt Katie always sends cookies. They are the most magical things ever, so now the boys look forward to getting Aunt Katie cookies, so that’s exciting.”
She also told Parade in 2020, “One thing I’ve been doing every year, and started when I was a kid, was to sing the original Broadway cast album of Dreamgirls. I took that right into my new family with some varying degrees of success.”
She continued, “Dwyane was like, ‘If we’re going to be singing showtunes we have to introduce Hamilton to the rest of the family.’ The whole family has been probably working since last Christmas to be off-book and to know every single word of every single song of Hamilton. We look forward to the family sing-along during the holidays. That’s our new/old tradition.”
Andy Cohen
Andy Cohen loves seeing his kids Ben and Lucy start to recollect Hanukkah traditions. During an interview with Romper, the talk show host shared, “[Ben] loves lighting the menorah. The other day he asked, ‘When does Hanukkah start?’ That he knows and looks forward to that is enough for me.”
As a Jewish man, he joked about adding a tradition to his holiday season that isn’t exactly typical of those who celebrate Hanukkah: A Christmas tree. “I integrated a fake tree into my life, sometime during the run of Watch What Happens Live,” he explained, adding, “We had a fake tree on the set and when we would break for the Christmas holidays, I would have my PA bring the tree to my apartment and set it up.”
He recalled his initial reaction to his parents’ possible judgment, sharing, “I said ‘Look, it’s not mine! I borrowed it!’ And then I was like, ‘Screw it. I’m buying a fake tree!’ It means nothing to me anyway, so it’s just festive.”
Michelle & Barack Obama
The Obama-Robinson clan looks out for one another during the holidays, and former First Lady Michelle shared exactly how with Ladies’ Home Journal in 2013. She explained, “Our extended family was so large, people couldn’t really afford to buy gifts for everyone. So a couple of my aunts would go out and purchase small gifts. They would put them in a basket and in order to get a gift you had to perform. You could tell a joke, read a poem, do a backflip—anything counted. It’s a tradition that we’ve carried on today.”
Eva Longoria
Eva Longoria and her family follow most of the usual Christmas traditions, but with a unique twist. The actress explained to Us Weekly in 2021, “I’m Mexican. I’m a Texican. [My family] celebrates on the 24th.” She continued, “We don’t really do the Christmas morning, like, wait [for] Santa. Somehow Santa came at 2:00 p.m. and here are all the presents.”
Explaining her family’s traditions in further detail, Longoria said, “We do the huge meal and presents and all of that the night of the 24th. We usually go to mass at midnight. That’s tradition.” Tamales are also a Christmas staple for her family — she joked that they’re divvied out in “Ralph’s plastic bags” and they “have to count out the tamales” to avoid an all-out “war.”
Priyanka Chopra & Nick Jonas
Being a multicultural couple and family, Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas focus on celebrating Indian traditions, American traditions, and their very own traditions during the winter holidays.
Jonas, who shares daughter Malti with Chopra, told People, “It’s really important to us that our daughter has an upbringing that is representative of our family and the things we love about [my wife’s] Indian culture and my American culture.”
During an interview with PureWow, he explained, “Priyanka and I are making our own traditions now, which is pretty exciting. The main one is to always eat some great food! We’ve also started to decorate cookies together, which is actually really fun for us.”
Chrissy Teigen & John Legend
Chrissy Teigen and John Legend have a unique Christmas Day tradition, but it’s one that totally makes sense if you know anything about Teigen: They order McDonald’s every December 25th.
According to Legend, though, the Big Mac is losing its spot as the main holiday entree: “It’s a Chrissy tradition, for sure,” the musician joked with The Receipt, continuing, “We’ve decided that Beef Wellington is our go-to Christmas main dish from now on.”
Mindy Kaling
Mindy Kaling loves watching movies and reading stories during the holidays. She told Us Weekly, “We always read The Night Before Christmas. Last year my daughter was too little and didn’t care, but this year I think she’ll be able to get it more. And I’ve been talking it up a little bit. So we’ll probably do that. And I always watch You’ve Got Mail on Christmas because it’s one of my favorite movies. She’s a little too little to enjoy that. But I would like, when she gets older, to make her watch that with me.”
The mom of three also revealed B.J. Novak’s role in her family’s Christmas: He plays Santa! Her longtime BFF started dressing up as Jolly Ol’ Saint Nick during the COVID-19 pandemic when Kaling couldn’t bring her kids to see Santa.
“We create this whole thing where we’re making hot chocolate in the house, the doorbell rings and it’s him dressed as Santa,” Kaling said of her The Office cowriter and costar.
Ahead of Christmas 2024, she revealed she wasn’t sure how much longer the tradition would last
“This is going to be the year where we hope the oldest one will be chill for the younger two,” the Never Have I Ever co-creator said.
Anthony Anderson
Black-ish actor Anthony Anderson turns his house into a Michelin-star restaurant come the holidays. He told Us Weekly, “When we have functions, or the holidays come around, everyone comes to my house. I will have between 30 and 40 family members for Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
Anderson continued, “It’s me and my cousin. My cousin is a professional chef. He went to culinary school. I didn’t. So he comes by and he’s my sous-chef, his name is Christopher. And he’ll make the sauces because that’s something that I have yet to perfect. He’ll make the sauces and I’ll do all of the other things and he’ll help me along the way.”
Vanessa & Nick Lachey
Vanessa and Nick Lachey have both longstanding holiday traditions and newer additions to their Christmas celebrations. Vanessa explained to Us Weekly, “One of our favorite family traditions is the day after Thanksgiving, every year, we decorate for Christmas since Nick and I started dating … It was just me and him putting up the tree and drinking white Russians.”
She added that their more recent favorite thing to do “might be Christmas Eve brunch because it’s [our youngest son] Phoenix’s birthday.” She went on to explain their night before Christmas routine: “Christmas Eve it’s just me and Nick assembling all the last-minute things. We can’t assemble a lot and leave it in the house because our kids will find it. So we stuff boxes everywhere and we hide them and then Christmas Eve it’s an all-nighter. We’re usually up really late but we have a glass of wine and we have Christmas carols on while assembling things so it’s a great time for us to bond.”
Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore, who shares two daughters, Olive and Frankie, with ex-husband Will Kopelman, opts for a more unique, memorable gift for her girls rather than something you’d find under the tree.
The Hollywood icon told Entertainment Tonight, “I always take them on a trip every Christmas. I don’t get them presents, which I think at their ages they don’t love. But I say, ‘I think we’ll remember the place and the photos and the experience and that’s what I want to give you.'”
She continued, “They get plenty of things throughout the year, so I’m not like some weird, strict, cold mom who’s like, ‘You don’t get any gifts!’ I just feel like a better gift would be a life memory. I’d rather invest [in that than in] a doll house or something.”
Goldie Hawn & Kurt Russell
Kate Hudson’s parents, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, also dished on their favorite holiday traditions. Russell shared with Us Weekly, “Well, Christmas is the biggest one and we always, we always trim the tree on Christmas Eve during the day and into the night.”
He continued, “We have a big meal and then the kids put their pajamas on and they hang up their stockings and we got the fire going and then when it gets dark we always choose someone to read T’was the Night Before Christmas and generally after that the kids start getting nervous because we’ve been tracking Santa Claus, generally that time he’s starting to work his way into the end of the Rockies perhaps. And then all of a sudden you might hear sleigh bells and if you hear sleigh bells, the pandemonium sets in.”
Alicia Silverstone
Clueless icon Alicia Silverstone celebrates her Jewish roots with her son, Bear, during the holidays. She told VegNews in December 2019, “Hanukkah usually entails making latkes together, playing dreidel, celebrating with loved ones, lighting the menorah, and giving some treats/gifts.”
Bryce Dallas Howard & Ron Howard
Actress Bryce Dallas Howard shared a holiday tradition she, her famous director dad Ron Howard, and her mom Cheryl all love: Making cookies.
During a 2022 interview with Us Weekly, the Jurassic Park star explained, “We decorate cookies. We have a whole day that we dedicate to it and it’s largely driven by my mom.” She continued, “We make all the cookies in advance and then it’s like a decorating party and we all get together and it’s really fun and it gets a little competitive.”
Of her father’s skills in the kitchen, Bryce said, “He’s got good cookie-decorating game.” She joked, “He’s creative and he has good small motor skills. You could say that Ron Howard is a visual artist and [he brings] that to his cookie decorating.”
Steve Harvey
Steve Harvey looks forward to his holiday tradition with his sons each year. The Family Feud host told Us Weekly, “Every year I have my sons come to the house, just like my father did when he was living with my brothers — we’d come over every Christmas morning.”
He continued, “We have fried oysters, we have [Sister] Schubert’s rolls, and we have eggnog. That’s it. My sons come over every Christmas morning and that happens. That doesn’t seem like a great combination to a lot of people, but it is to me. I like oysters, I like [Sister] Schubert’s rolls, and I like eggnog. Put them on the same plate, I’m happy.”
The Grande Family
Frankie Grande (yes, that Grande) told Seventeen about his and sister Ariana’s Christmas traditions in 2018, saying, “[We open] presents at midnight on Christmas Eve — midnight! As soon as it turns to Christmas Day, we’re opening those gifts. We sleep until like 5 pm. We’re up until like 4 or 5 am, though.”
Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon — who shares her two eldest kids, Ava and Deacon, with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe and her youngest son, Tennessee, with husband Jim Toth — cherishes the Christmas traditions each of her kids have come to love.
Sharing a feel-good holiday tradition on her Instagram, Witherspoon wrote, “It’s the season to give back, donate toys, coats and diapers to local shelters. And also figure out how to wrap awkwardly sized presents together ! ????” she joked, sharing a photo of herself, Toth, and Tennessee at a warehouse wrapping donated items.
The actress-turned-media mogul also told People in 2016, “Even though they are growing up, my kids already have really fond memories of our Christmas traditions. Gingerbread houses, and we have to have Advent calendars. These are things where you think, ‘Oh, they’re not noticing …’ but then I forgot the Advent calendars this year, and Deacon was like, ‘Mom! Where are they?!’ I didn’t realize how important they were to him!”
She added, “I love Christmas caroling. I remember bundling up and walking around the neighborhood. It’s one of my favorite holiday memories from being a kid in Nashville.”
Billy Ray Cyrus & Miley Cyrus
Although there’s speculation of an estranged relationship between father-daughter duo Miley Cyrus and Billy Ray Cyrus following the latter’s divorce from Tish Cyrus, Miley told Good Morning Football in December 2020, “My favorite thing to do when I go home [for the holidays] is we go and we throw the ball around outside on my dad’s farm. Some of my greatest memories are playing football with my dad.”
Brandy
Brandy always loved decorating for the holidays as a kid, and she still looks forward to it every year as an adult. The singer and actress told Us Weekly, “We always decorated when we were kids, but we never had nice decorations. We didn’t have the matching lights.”
She continued, “I wanted to take that tradition and as I got older decorate my own home and my home is the place we all come together. I have the nice tree and the ornaments that match and the lights and stuff now.”
Courteney Cox & Laura Dern
Longtime friends Courteney Cox and Laura Dern get their families together every year on December 24 for a Christmas celebration. In 2019, they documented their 14th Christmas Eve together on Instagram. “I love this family and our Christmas Eve tradition. Some things never change…much. ?????? #family,” Cox captioned a selfie of the two families.
Carrie Underwood
Country queen Carrie Underwood loves getting festive with her eldest son, Isaiah, whom she shares with husband Mike Fisher. She told Parade in December 2020, “I enjoy decorating with my oldest son, Isaiah. He loves helping and he loves doing the tree. I put out some things while he was away at school and he came home and he was like, ‘You decorated without me,’ and I was like, ‘I just got the stuff that was, like, bigger and you wouldn’t have any fun doing this anyway because I wasn’t decorating a tree.’ But we enjoy doing that.”
She continued, “He loves helping me in the kitchen and making cookies. His great-grandmother passed away not too, too long ago and we have her ginger cookies that she would always make. We have that recipe and we do that and talk about her, and just things like that are really, really sweet.”
Underwood and Fisher also share a second son, Jacob.
Kelly Ripa & Mark Consuelos
Christmastime has forever been changed for Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos, and their three kids thanks to Ripa’s Live With Kelly & Ryan co-host’s mom. The talk show personality told Us Weekly, “Ryan Seacrest’s mom, Connie, makes these sausage balls Christmas morning. It’s Bisquick and sausage and cheddar cheese and you bake it in the oven. And now it is the No. 1 most requested thing in our house. It surpassed the cookies. It surpassed everything else.”
Gwyneth Paltrow
It’s all about cooking on Christmas for Gwyneth Paltrow and her kids, Apple and Moses. The actress and entrepreneur told the Daily Mail in 2013, “I do a lot of the cooking before Christmas but then I usually spend a lot of Christmas cooking too. All the smells, all of the mulled wine, all of the trimmings for the turkey. We like to have all the family around. A very traditional Christmas.”
Paltrow continued, “My kids are very involved in the kitchen with me, especially my son. He loves to cook and he’s very engaged when we do it — he has a lot of patience for it, it’s very cute. He helps me measure and he cracks eggs perfectly, he’s very good.”
Joey Fatone
NSYNC’s Joey Fatone and his wife, Brittany, love watching Christmas movies with their kids during the holidays. He told Us Weekly, “Oh, the staple, 100 percent across the board is Elf. You’ve got to watch Elf. But The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, obviously the Jim Carrey one, that’s another staple.”
Kristin Cavallari
Kristin Cavallari is all about carrying on her childhood holiday traditions with her own kids. The Laguna Beach alum told Us Weekly, “My dad always made homemade meatballs and sauce on Christmas Eve, so I’ve kept that up with our family,” speaking of the three kids she shares with ex-husband Jay Cutler.
She added, “When I was little, my parents had the elves come a week before Christmas and if we were good, we got a little something in our stocking. If we were bad, we got coal.”
Kate Mara
Kate Mara’s family traditions for the holidays are all about family itself. “I spend every Christmas in New York, where I grew up, with my whole family,” the actress told Us Weekly, continuing, “That is something that is important. Wherever we all are in the world, we all fly home. Even with a 6-month-old baby, it is totally worth it. Our traditions are … we stay at home in our pajamas and watch a lot of movies. That has never really changed.”
Melissa Joan Hart
Melissa Joan Hart lives for the Christmas morning buzz with her kids. She told Us Weekly, “My favorite [tradition] — which my parents did when we were kids that we now do with our children — which is the morning of Christmas, sitting at the top of the stairs, waiting for mom and dad to go downstairs and check to make sure Santa came and he left.”
The actress explained, “It goes back to, I think, when my mom fell asleep too early and Santa hadn’t come, we had to go back to bed! It’s the best thing ever. Sitting on top of the stairs, the anticipation, the gathering, that 30 second to a minute is the best anticipation of your entire life. You’ll never get that back. It’s the highlight. They have to wait until mom and dad check. That gives me time to set up the camera, turn on the lights, light the fire.”
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