The members of Little Big Town have their own traditions, but one they’ve all seemed to have adopted is Kimberly Schlapman’s annual holiday tradition.

“My favorite holiday tradition is, it’s happened every year that I can remember that I’ve been alive,” she says. “We would go over to my grandmother’s house and have Christmas over there, and everybody would come home to Mama and Daddy’s house. We’d sit down and Mama hands out everybody a gift, and we act like we don’t what it is, but we do ’cause it’s always Christmas pajamas. So, everybody opens their Christmas pajamas and goes and puts ’em on, and we come back to the living room and we sit around Daddy and he reads ‘The Christmas Story,’ and we tuck ourselves in until Santa comes.”

One of Karen Fairchild’s traditions include making candy. “Christmases at our house usually included making candy with my mother and my grandmother,” says Karen. “We did everything from potato candy to chocolate dipped peanut butter (JIMI: “That all sounds amazing.”) and fudge. My mom’s fudge recipe is amazing.” KIMBERLY: “What is potato candy?” KAREN: “It does use a potato, but it’s rolled and it has peanut butter inside.”

The Christmas holiday season for the group begins with movies and music. “One of our favorite Christmas traditions is gathering around the television to watch holiday movies,” says Karen. “And I know [for] Kimberly, it starts with [KIMBERLY: “It’s a Wonderful Life.”] It’s a Wonderful Life. Ours is holiday movies and records, like certain records have to be played in order for Jimi.”  Jimi is adamant about beginning with a certain artist. “You have to start out the season right with Elvis, a little Elvis Presley.”

A couple of years ago, Kimberly released a children’s book, A DOLLY FOR CHRISTMAS: The True Story of a Family’s Christmas Miracle.  A DOLLY FOR CHRISTMAS celebrates the season’s themes of hope, love, and family as it explores a family’s adoption process. Inspired by Schlapman’s struggle to conceive her second child and how she and her family decided to adopt, the book delves into how Schlapman’s  first daughter wrote letters to Santa Claus about her desire for a sibling until the family was actually surprised by their new baby girl, Dolly, days before Christmas. In the story, all Daisy wants for Christmas is a little brother or sister. Her parents have tried everything to make her dream come true, but nothing is working. So Daisy takes matters into her own hands, praying every day and writing a letter to Santa Claus about her one and only wish. Daisy’s parents are touched by her strong belief and grateful for her help, but as they explain, sometimes you have to wait. God will give you the perfect gift when the time is right. In this heartwarming holiday tale, Schlapman shares the true story of the Christmas when her family became whole.