Even some of the biggest country stars are just like us when it comes to celebrating Christmas. They have their cherished holiday tunes, their favorite dishes and love to get into the spirit by taking part in annual Christmas traditions. Join us as we take a glimpse into how artists like Jordan Davis, Reba McEntire, Parker McCollum and more embrace the holiday spirit, sharing their favorite moments and memories that make this time of year so special.
Keith Urban can proudly say he had a pretty unique Christmas experience growing up in Australia, where the holiday season took place over their summer months. Now that he has a family of his own, he still enjoys carrying on the annual trip to the beach on December 25.
“Yeah, we still love going to the beach at Christmas time, as long as we’re in Australia, because it’s like the Fourth of July. It’s huge. Everybody’s out. It feels very celebratory,” he explained. “It’s in the ‘90s. It’s crazy, but having grown up with that, it feels very natural to me. Albeit it, we still had all of the same Christmas songs, so we’re in like 90-degree heat with shorts and tank tops singing ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland,’ and I remember getting Christmas cards of like Santa on a surfboard, so that probably explains a lot.”
A few years ago, Jordan Davis moved to Nashville and started a new tradition with his wife and kids, which involves them taking a trip to the city’s historic Belcourt Theatre to watch a showing of the classic movie, It’s a Wonderful Life.
“They play it at a theater here in town, and it’s something that I really look forward to going and seeing that movie,” he told his label, UMG Nashville.
Dierks Bentley also looks forward to his family’s annual Christmas drive, but instead of heading to a theater like Davis, they make their rounds to all the best lights in the area. This is something he did as a kid growing up in Arizona and has carried with him to his life in Nashville in addition to the new traditions they’ve started.
“One of our favorite Christmas traditions is just driving around looking at lights. Love seeing all the lights back in the valley…We’ve got a lot of lights up on the house. We’ve got a Grinch in the front yard, as well as a talking Santa, so new traditions here in Nashville and some old ones, as well.”
In addition to covering the home with bright lights, another very important step in the Christmas decorating process is putting up the tree. Some choose to go out and cut down their own trees while others opt for the artificial option. Reba McEntire has experienced both throughout her life but reveals why these days she tends to go for the artificial route.
“I definitely have an artificial tree, because when we were growing up, we’d all go out on the ranch and cut down a Christmas tree, bring it in and then we had to water it every other day – make sure the coffee can was full of water – and the cedar needles got everywhere, so nowadays I just go with an artificial tree…and two, I can leave it with the lights on half the year.”
On the other hand, Maddie of Maddie & Tae and her husband Jonah look forward to getting those live branches in their home every year.
“We always get a real tree every year, because Jonah’s a stickler for a real tree thing. We always shave off a little part of the bottom of the tree and make an ornament out of the little thing, so we’ll put the year on all of them and collect them. We’ve actually just started collecting nutcrackers, which is super weird, but we name them all,” she explained.
Along with all the new memories they make with their growing families now that they are grown, these artists will never forget moments in their childhood that made the holiday seasons special.
Maddie & Tae’s Taylor says that one of her favorite memories growing up was sleeping in the same room with her two brothers and feeding off each other’s excitment as they woke up on Christmas morning, eager to open their presents.
“Every Christmas, one of our traditions was the kids – me and my two brothers – we would all stay in the same room on Christmas Eve and then we’d wake up when it was time to wake up, and we’d go down the stairs my parents would have a sheet at the bottom of the stairs so we couldn’t see all the presents; not that we weren’t going to see them in two seconds, but to them it was just the magic of the big reveal, them showing us all the gifts that Santa had gotten us,” she recalled. “I’m just so thankful that my parents really kept that magic alive.”
For Parker McCollum, that same day took place in Conroe, Texas and nearly always included a game of football in the front yard of Grandma’s house and watching classic Christmas movies like Annabelle’s Wish, largely because country icon Randy Travis serves as the narrator.
Many of these artists also expressed their love for the food, movies and music heard during the season. Darius Rucker reveals he eagerly awaits a sweet potato pie and loves listening to “The Christmas Song,” while Kassi Ashton sings along to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and Josh Ross admits can’t pass up an opportunity to watch the iconic film, The Grinch.
It turns out that Ross’ family actually has hilarious connection to the main character, Jim Carrey.
“It’s funny, The Grinch was one of my favorite movies, and that was one that I watched, and I got to fill people in, I was like, ‘Well, my mom used to date ‘The Grinch.’’ And everybody was like, ‘Wait! What do you mean?’” he said, “And my mom’s boyfriend in high school was Jim Carrey. So, it’s kind of a cool, I guess, fun fact that most people would not know is he grew up in Burlington, Ontario and went to Aldershot High School and he was my mom’s ninth grade, or freshman year, boyfriend.”
Although it will be hard to see the holiday season come to a close, fans can look forward to seeing these country stars kickstarting their new year with fresh releases and the start of many performances to come in 2025.
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