A handful of things come to mind when we hear the word Christmas. Aside from religious celebrations, the vision of Santa Claus tends to pop into our heads. We think about building some (very messy) gingerbread houses and watching cheesy holiday movies in our comfiest, most festive pair of pajamas. We also know that this season is a time for celebration, and we look forward to seeing extended family or good friends, some of whom may live far away.
For many people, there's typically a big meal involved, and traditions are aplenty. In short, that song is true: It really is the most wonderful time of year.
Yet, as we celebrate our own way with our own loved ones, we often wonder what some of our favorite stars are up to on December 25. Do they struggle to wrap gifts and belt out Christmas carols together? Do they invite their families over and end up cuddled up with some hot cocoa on the couch? Are their holiday parties more on the elaborate side, or do they simply prefer to order food delivered to their house and spend the day being lazy together?
As it turns out, it's all of the above. Many actors, actresses, reality stars, and singers have talked at length about the way they celebrate, opening up about their yearly traditions. A few are really into the whole gift-giving thing, whereas others don't give their kids any presents at all. (Yes, it's true.) For the most part, though, it's that quality family time they're after, proving yet again that we're not so different from A-listers after all.
Here's a look at some celebrity-inspired holiday traditions we might want to steal.
Joanna Gaines
Joanna Gaines revealed in Magnolia Journal that part of her Christmas tradition involves baking. "All I want is to gather the same ingredients for the same beloved cinnamon rolls that I've baked on Christmas morning for as long as I can remember," she wrote.
The Fixer Upper star has also blogged about her family's personalized ornament tradition. "Every holiday season, I get Chip and the kids an ornament that goes along with a memory from that year," she said. "I write their name and the date on the bottom, so as they get older, each one of them has a little collection that's all their own."
Chrissy Teigen
Chrissy Teigen may love cooking, but for Christmas, she and husband John Legend get fast food. "Christmas Day is more of like order McDonald's and go to the movies," she told Today. "It's a very lazy day."
Chrissy also said that her family always opened presents on Christmas Eve when she was growing up, and that rather than big gifts, it's the stockings that are important to her. "I always loved the little tiny gifts and got excited for a deck of cards or the magic set or whatever was in the stocking. That's what I loved the most."
Blake Lively
In 2014, Blake Lively revealed that December 25 is sort of a lazy day for her family. "It's really about being with family, so we never leave the house, whether we're making gingerbread houses or baking cookies or sitting around watching movies," she said.
Kristin Cavallari
Kristin Cavallari revealed that her family gets some pre-Christmas surprises every year. "Growing up, the elves would come every day before Christmas, and if you were good, they'd leave a little something in your stocking, and if you were bad, you got coal," the reality star and Uncommon James founder told Us Weekly.
So far, Kristin is keeping that tradition alive with her three children. "It's a good way to keep your kids in line and have them be on their best behavior," she said.
Noted!
Kurt Russell
Veteran actor Kurt Russell seems just as passionate about Christmas as Santa Claus! "We always trim the tree on Christmas Eve during the day and into the night," he told Us Weekly.
"And we have a big meal and then the kids put their pajamas on and they hang up their stockings, and we get the fire going, and then when it gets dark we always choose someone to read T'was the Night Before Christmas."
Kate Hudson
Kate Hudson also spoke about her family's traditions on the Fabletics blog in 2016.
"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 wrote. "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 and very funny, so he likes to give the adults very funny presents."
Kate and her kids also leave treats for Santa, but what the treats are varies from year to year. "One year we heard that Santa wanted rum, root beer, and licorice. One year he wanted gluten-free cookies and almond milk. Another year, I think he wanted a Cabernet and some chocolates. So Santa likes to change quite a bit!"
Vanessa Lachey
Vanessa Lachey's family caps off their present opening fun with some yummy food. "I have created a tradition of breakfast every Christmas morning — the same casserole dish that I still do now with the kids," Vanessa said when speaking to House Beautiful. "We can all sit down and look forward to it on Christmas morning after we open our presents."
Hilarie Burton
For former One Tree Hill star Hilarie Burton and her family, Christmas Day is all about the movies. "My family watches the same two movies every Christmas, and it kills my husband," she told Us Weekly, adding that her husband, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, has slightly different taste.
"He likes the Die Hard of it all. We can definitely fit Die Hard in, and then Les Mis. My son is obsessed with Les Mis. My whole family is obsessed with Les Mis, and poor Jeffrey is just like, 'I don't understand why they're singing, like, why are they singing?'"
LOL!
Brooke Shields
Now a mom to two teens, Brooke Shield told InStyle that she's taken a different route when it comes to gifts.
"What we've started doing is taking them each Christmas or New Year's on an experience. We went to Ireland, we went to India. Granted, we're lucky we can do that. But instead of just buying them things, which once you get past whatever sneaker everybody has that they want, you sort of whittle it down," she explained.
Nick Jonas
Nick Jonas likes to spice things up on Christmas. "Every year, we eat tamales on Christmas morning, and it's pretty awesome," he once told InStyle. "My mom started it and it's special because Kevin, Joe, and I have grown up doing it. It's very like us to have tamales on Christmas."
Granted, this was pre-Priyanka Chopra — and before he became a dad himself. Maybe he'll start a new tradition this year?
Busy Philipps
While the holidays tend to be a stressful time for many people, Busy Philipps embraces the chaos. "Having family come over and eating too much meat and cheese, all that stuff — it's really a special time," she told Good Morning America. "My girls get very into it, so the chaos or whatever that people talk about with the holidays doesn't really bog me down. I think it's such a gift to be able to reconnect with people."
Carrie Underwood
On Christmas morning, country music queen Carrie Underwood gets up and goes to Waffle House with her family. "It's such a hectic time, and I don't feel like making breakfast on a day that you're just making so much food anyway. So we order breakfast and leave a ginormous tip."
Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba admits she loves holiday traditions. Aside from eating turkey every year (including one made with jalapeños), the whole family sings together. "We love Christmas caroling with an improv version of '12 Days of Christmas' that's always pretty epic," she told InStyle. "We also do our version of a white elephant that's an ornament exchange for all of the adults."
Mila Kunis
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher have a pretty shocking Christmas tradition for their family of four. "So far, our tradition is no presents for the kids," she revealed in 2017. "We're instituting it this year because when the kids are [younger than] 1, it doesn't really matter. Last year when we celebrated Christmas, Wyatt was 2, and it was too much. We didn't give her anything — it was the grandparents. The kid no longer appreciates the one gift. They don't even know what they're expecting; they're just expecting stuff."
Still, they aren't totally against gifts. In fact, they'd much rather give them than receive them. "We've told our parents, 'We're begging you — if you have to give something, pick one gift.' Otherwise, we'd like to take a charitable donation to the children's hospital or whatever you want. That's our new tradition."
Kim Kardashian
Kris Jenner is known to throw a pretty fabulous Christmas Eve party. And according to daughter Kim Kardashian, it's everyone's favorite night of the year. "It's all our closest family and friends celebrating the holidays with a night of food, fun, and dancing," she wrote on her app. "Everyone gets glammed up, and we have the best time."
Christmas morning, however, is all about being comfy and cozy. "We all wear matching pajamas when we open presents at Kourtney's house," she said. "Each year, we get different pajamas."
Julia Roberts
Like many parents, Julia Roberts makes her kids wait a little bit to open their gifts. "Nobody goes into the living room until everybody goes into the living room," she said on Entertainment Weekly Radio.
The actress is also a fan of "a good hearty Christmas dinner," and enjoys the challenge of deciding what to eat before then. "You want to keep a steady blood level going where you don't get crazy before the big meal."
Gwen Stefani
Singer Gwen Stefani has a cute tradition of having her kids run through wrapping paper to get to their toys.
"We have to be very patient, and we have to make sure that the phone's working and that we videotape the boys crashing through the wrapping paper and then it reveals everything," she said on the 2017 You Make It Feel Like Christmas TV special. "That's probably, to me, one of the greatest traditions. I don't know how Santa thought that up. Such a good idea."
We think so, too, Gwen!
Gabrielle Union
Gabrielle Union loves the connections that Christmastime brings. "Around the holidays, I strongly encourage everyone to actually have conversation, especially with people whose opinions differ from yours, with people who live differently than you do," the actress has said. Not a bad idea, especially when reuniting with family you haven't seen in a while!
Melissa Joan Hart
Melissa Joan Hart admitted that her family is down for all of the Christmas traditions, from making gingerbread houses to taking photos with Santa.
"My favorite [tradition] is one that I had when I was little," she said on People Now. "My parents used to leave us at the top of the stairs and go down and check to see that the presents were there and that Santa had arrived."
The former childhood star said the anticipation is part of what makes it so great. "It's that buildup, like that moment before you walk through the gates of Disneyland."
LeAnn Rimes
When Eddie Cibrian's sons were little, stepmom LeAnn Rimes used to put a trail of candy canes outside their door, leading to the tree — and she still does it, even though they're older.
"They're looking at me now like, 'Really, Lee? We're a little old for this,'" she said on People Now. "I'm like, 'If you come to our house and you are 30, you're going to have a candy cane lane from your door to the Christmas tree.'"
Reese Witherspoon
In an Instagram post she shared in December 2020, Reese Witherspoon said that she never misses out on making a gingerbread house every year. "One of my favorite things about this time of year is decorating gingerbread houses with my kids, well … OK … we mostly just eat the candy," she jokingly confessed in her caption.
Mandy Moore
In 2021, Mandy Moore told Parents magazine that the menu for Christmas Eve dinner was always the same growing up, and it's a tradition she's excited to continue with her kids. "In my family, on Christmas Eve, we always had breakfast for dinner because on my parents' first Christmas together, they had no food in the house except eggs and bacon and toast, and so that became Christmas Eve dinner," she said.
