WASHINGTON – From trimming the tree and baking cookies to singing Christmas carols, there are so many wonderful traditions that come with the holiday season. And now, some of the most familiar faces at Fox News are sharing some of their own in a new book.
Compiled by Rachel Campos-Duffy and Sean Duffy, All American Christmas gives readers a snapshot of how the Fox News family celebrates the season. Contributors include Dana Perino, Shannon Bream, Brian Kilmeade, Bret Baier, Martha McCallum, and many more.
“For us, we thought, isn’t it great to take other people’s stories of how they celebrated Christmas when they were little, how they celebrate it now,” explained Sean with Rachel during an interview with CBN News. “What we love about our Christmas is we both come from very different traditions.”
Those differences begin with the tree. Rachel, who came from a military family, grew up with fake trees. Sean on the other hand grew up in Wisconsin and had a more rustic experience.
“I was like, who doesn’t cut down their Christmas tree? You have a fake Christmas tree in your house? That’s sinful,” he joked. “That’s one of our traditions that Rachel has bought into. So now we take our kids out every year. We have nine kids. We take them out. And it’s usually after Thanksgiving. We’ll go get our tree and it’s a big celebration for our family as we kick off Christmas.”
The Duffy’s highlight all of their favorite traditions in the book. Another comes first thing Christmas morning. Before racing down to open all of their presents, the family sings ‘Away in a Manger.’
“This was a tradition that came from my husband’s family but to me, I love it,” said Rachel. “It’s like that last bit of anticipation but it’s also the last chance that we have before the gifts to remind our kids of what Christmas is really about.”
For the Duffy’s, Jesus in the manger is the reason for the season.
“For us, it’s what it’s all about,” explained Rachel. “In our book, we talk about other people who are friends of ours at Fox News who have different traditions. Some of them are from mixed Jewish and Christian heritages and they have to mix all these things. We’re both Catholic. I’m Hispanic Catholic. He’s Irish Catholic and so the beauty of that is we as a family are very intentional about it. It’s very important to us.”
They say the book and some of the personal stories will have you choked up in one chapter.
“John Roberts, who is a very serious newsman, his story about losing his dad when he was six just before the holidays and just sort of how that colored, not just that Christmas but so many other Christmases,” said Rachel. “He said the merrier the Christmas the more he can contrast it and appreciate it.”
And laughing out loud in the next.
“And we actually started crying during Jesse Watters,” said Sean. “We cried laughing! His family went from New York up to Pennsylvania to cut down a Christmas tree. They netted it, put it on the top of the station wagon, drove home, put it in the stand un-netted it, went to bed and he said they woke up at like four in the morning and the cat was going crazy. They actually said they had a squirrel, came out of the tree and the cat went nuts, tearing up the house – literally this is out of a movie.”
So from the Duffy’s and the rest of the Fox News family:
“Outside of your network and our network, there’s not a lot of people saying ‘Merry Christmas,'” said Rachel. “So Merry Christmas, everybody!”
***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you keep receiving the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN