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Luke Bryan: What Gets Him in the Holiday Spirit

Author Nancy Brooks // Country Writer, Beasley Media Group

Luke Bryan stays busy all year; even during this month, he works on American Idol. Luke recently told us what gets him in the holiday spirit each year. He said, “Coming home and the house is decorated, and the tree is up, and all the lights are on. The last couple of years doing American Idol, I spend about ten days of December in L.A. taping, so when I leave L.A., get home, it’s like my time to really settle into Christmas and enjoy the holidays with family.”

Bryan added, “So, yeah, nothing like seeing the tree in the house that gets you going and starting to hear Christmas carols on the radio and starting to see some of our favorite Christmas movies on TV.”

Luke says that now that the kids are a bit older, they stay in Nashville for Christmas. He offered, “We used to load ’em up on the tour bus, and we used to take them to Georgia, and it was a lot to travel with kids. So, now that we’re in Nashville, we’ve had a lot of Christmases here. The kids are getting a little older, but they still get excited about running down the stairs Christmas morning.”

RELATED: Luke Bryan’s “Most Powerful Moment” During Las Vegas Residency

Bryan and his wife, Caroline, make Christmas as exciting as possible. He said of what he and Caroline do for the kids on Christmas morning, “We tape up a bunch of wrapping paper, and they kind of run through the wrapping paper like a football team to see all the presents and stuff, so it’s fun. We still have a lot of the family come up; try to plan a few hunting trips the day before Christmas and have a big Christmas Eve and let some kids open the presents, but it’s still great to be with my family during the holidays. We cherish every holiday season together.”

Luke also told us what his favorite Christmas gift as a kid was. He said, “My favorite Christmas gift is my first Honda 50 motorcycle that I got back in 1984. It was just an amazing gift to have under the tree, and I never will forget seeing that as I walked out.”

Top Five Country Christmas Songs Of All Time

  • 5. Carrie Underwood - "Little Drummer Boy"

    With a cameo by her young son Isaiah singing adorably on this classic remake, it is no wonder this has quickly become a holiday favorite and makes his famous mom proud.

    Underwood is playing shows and has added Christmas song to her Las Vegas residency which she wraps up next week (12/16).

    Carrie told us recently about decorating early for Christmas this year (2023), “There’s nothing sadder than a Christmas tree up with no presents underneath it, so I don’t really think that you want to get your Christmas tree up too early, but this year, I was a little earlier than normal because we had Thanksgiving and then head out to Vegas for my Reflection shows, and I had to get everything up before I left.”

  • 4. Gwen Stefani (Featuring Blake Shelton) - "You Make It Feel Like Christmas"

    A wonderful song that puts you right into the holiday spirit. Gwen and Blake do this song beautifully together and seem to have fun with every word they sing.

    On the footnote version of the title song’s music video, Stefani said, “The idea of getting to be a part of people’s holidays through music is one of the greatest gifts. Christmas music lives forever.”

    She also noted in the video footnotes that the video idea was inspired by the 1960s TV show Bewitched, a show both of them loved as kids. Gwen and Blake co-wrote the song “You Make It Feel Like Christmas.”

  • 3. Brad Paisley - "Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy"

    This is an excellent take on the 1960s original Christmas song by country music icon Buck Owens. Brad does this to perfection honoring his late friend. Garth Brooks also covered this song on his first Christmas album, Beyond The Season.

  • 2. Dolly Parton - "Hard Candy Christmas"

    Not initially known as or written as a Christmas song, this song comes from the soundtrack of Dolly Parton’s 1982 movie Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. The song has become a classic and has been covered by many after Dolly, including her friend Reba.

  • 1. Brenda Lee - "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"

    Possibly one of the best holiday songs in any genre; not a year goes by that we don’t spin this record on repeat. In 2023, sixty-five years after its first release to radio, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time ever.

    By hitting the No.1 spot, Brenda Lee breaks several records. Many of those records were held by Mariah Carey and “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which Lee beat out for the top spot.

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.

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Author Nancy Brooks // Country Writer, Beasley Media Group
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