Terri Clark released her holiday album, It’s Christmas…Cheers, through her old record label, Mercury Nashville, in 2020, and the collection features many special guests including Vince Gill, Dierks Bentley, Suzy Bogguss, Pam Tillis, Ricky Skaggs and the Oak Ridge Boys.
Terri has a few Christmas traditions, including taking her guitar and some friends and going caroling.
“I’ve been able to go caroling door-to-door a couple times, even after my first hit came out,” says Terri. “It’s always been fun to show up at somebody’s door with a guitar and a group of people around me singing Christmas carols and then they go, ‘Oh, is that who I think it is?’ (laughs) That’s always fun.”
Terri also loves Christmas Eve, and recalls some of her favorite traditions growing up in Canada. “Christmas Eve was always my favorite, because it felt like once Christmas morning gets there, it’s kind of a wind-down to the end of the holiday,” she says. “So, Christmas Eve is still sort of that night before and leading up to when Santa comes, and we would always make traditional dishes. And my mom and my mom’s mom, my grandmother, would make Pierogis and cabbage rolls and tourtière, which is a French sort of meat pie that we would have when we lived up in Montreal up in Quebec. And so, food was always a big part of Christmas Eve for me, and on Christmas Eve we were allowed to open one gift, one gift only, and the rest were next morning. So, the next morning was always so much fun, especially when you’re a kid because Christmas really is for kids.”
Audio / Terri Clark talks about one of her Christmas traditions, which involves a guitar and friends.
DownloadTerri Clark (Christmas tradition) 1 OC: …always fun. :15
“Actually, I’ve been able to go caroling door-to-door a couple times, even after my first hit came out. It’s always been fun to show up at somebody’s door with a guitar and a group of people around me singing Christmas carols and then they go, ‘Oh, is that who I think it is?’ (laughs) That’s always fun.”
Audio / Terri Clark talks about her Christmas Eve traditions growing up in Canada.
DownloadTerri Clark (Christmas tradition) 2 OC: …is for kids. :43
“Christmas Eve was always my favorite, because it felt like once Christmas morning gets there, it’s kind of a wind-down to the end of the holiday and that’s always a bit anti-climatic and depressing to me. So, Christmas Eve is still sort of that night before and leading up to when Santa comes, and we would always make traditional dishes. And my mom and my mom’s mom, my grandmother, would make Pierogis and cabbage rolls and tourtière, which is a French sort of meat pie that we would have when we lived up in Montreal up in Quebec. And so, food was always a big part of Christmas Eve for me, and on Christmas Eve we were allowed to open one gift, one gift only, and the rest were next morning. So, the next morning was always so much fun, especially when you’re a kid because Christmas really is for kids.”