With three members, Lady Antebellum have quite a few Christmas traditions. While Dave Haywood’s family was making the Christmas candy, Divinity (which is made up mainly of Karo syrup and sugar, Charles Kelley’s family was enjoying homemade apple cider. “My mom always made it and she’d put all these spices [in], and it’s one of those things that always reminds me of Christmas,” says Charles. “My mom also used to make baked apples too, which I don’t know what our obsession is with apples, but apparently, we’re Christmas and apples.”
Lady A’s Hillary Scott says her family has a tradition every year of visiting with friends. “A really close family friend of ours, that we’ve been best friends with since I was a little baby, they have a big party on the 23rd of December – every year,” she explains. “And there’s always some fun theme, and we get together and sing Christmas carols, and there’s always a rendition of ‘[Tender] Tennessee Christmas’ every year. It was just such a huge part of growing up, and it’s something that I continue to do every year to this day.”
Dave Haywood says that one of family Christmas traditions always included a taking a test. “My dad on Christmas Eve, he would actually read The Christmas Story. Very predictable, I know, but after The Christmas Story, he would always give his famous Christmas test,” says Dave. “And he would have this long test and he would ask us about the Three Wisemen… the entire Christmas story. So, I’m gonna have to get the copy of it from him because he never gives us the full answers, but I’d love to get that test from him and be able to pass that along. I’ll quiz my wife this year.”
Lady A will perform songs from their new Christmas album, On This Winter’s Night, at Nashville’s Schemerhorn Center during a one-night only show on Monday (December 3rd). If you weren’t able to make it to the show, you can catch the entire show on the trio’s YouTubeChannel three times, beginning Tuesday (December 4th) at 8pm ET and Wednesday (December 5th) at 2am and 2pm ET.
By the way, you can check out Lady A’s own Christmas favorites on Spotify. The playlist is available to subscribe and listen to, and Lady A will add more songs each week. Check the list, which includes songs by Trisha Yearwood, Nat King Cole and Donny Hathaway.
AUDIO: Lady Antebellum’s Dave Haywood talks about one of the Haywood family traditions.
Lady A (Dave-Christmas tradition) OC: …this year. :25
“I think a tradition I would love to carry on is kind of a funny one. My dad on Christmas Eve, he would actually read The Christmas Story. Very predictable, I know, but after The Christmas Story, he would always give his famous Christmas test. And he would have this long test and he would ask us about the Three Wisemen… the entire Christmas story. So, I’m gonna have to get the copy of it from him because he never gives us the full answers, but I’d love to get that test from him and be able to pass that along. I’ll quiz my wife this year.”
AUDIO: Lady Antebellum’s Dave Haywood explains a family tradition of making Christmas candy every year.
Lady A (Haywood Family tradition) OC: …Haywood household. :23
“I think a big family tradition for us is actually making this Christmas candy called Divinity. It’s a mixture of Karo syrup and sugar; it’s just a super sugar treat. But we make it every year, and my aunt makes it too, and everybody shares it with all of our relatives. You can make part of it with pecans and parts with walnuts and all kinds of crazy things. For us, it was a lot of food around the Haywood household.”
AUDIO: Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley talks about his family’s tradition of making apple cider around the holidays.
Lady A (Charles-apple cider tradition) OC: …and apples. [Hillary laughs] :29
“One thing I honestly always associate with Christmas is apple cider, hot apple cider. My mom always made it and she’d put all these spices [in], and it’s one of those things that always reminds me of Christmas. And so, actually, when we had some family over for Christmas this last year, I made some hot apple cider, and I felt very, like I was carrying on our tradition. My mom also used to make baked apples too, which I don’t know what our obsession is with apples, but apparently, we’re Christmas and apples.” [Hillary laughs]
AUDIO: Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott talks about one of her family Christmas traditions.
Lady A (Hillary-Christmas tradition) OC: ..this day. :26
“One of my favorite Christmas memories, it’s actually a tradition we have every year – a really close family friend of ours, that we’ve been best friends with since I was a little baby, they have a big party on the 23rd of December – every year. And there’s always some fun theme, and we get together and sing Christmas carols, and there’s always a rendition of ‘[Tender] Tennessee Christmas’ every year. It was just such a huge part of growing up, and it’s something that I continue to do every year to this day.”
