The stockings are hung by the chimneys with care, office Christmas parties are taking place, folks are making plans to be with their loved ones this holiday season, and some of your favorite country artists recall their favorite Christmas memories, songs and much more. (NOTE: This is the first installment of UMG Christmas soundbites.)

Eric Paslay (Christmases growing up) OC: …and football. :37
‘I remember always [on] Christmas Eve, we’d go to my Mom’s mother’s house, my grandmother, and we’d open up gifts kinda from the family. And my great-aunt, lived across the street, so all of those cousins, we’d go over there and hang out and steal some more cookies and kind of show…what’cha got and play with the toy for five minutes and move on to the other cousin’s toys. And then the next morning, maybe when we were younger, open up some more presents, you know, and then go to my other grandparents’ [house], my dad’s parents and hang out with that family, and it was always fun. We’d always have turkey, ham and football.”

Eric Paslay (Christmas Song) OC: …Christmas. :07
“My favorite Christmas song is ‘Away in a Manger.’ The melody’s so beautiful, and I think it’s the true meaning of Christmas.”

George Strait (Christmas memories) OC: …back then. :21
“At Christmas time, we always kind of got together at my grandparents and had Christmas there, and it was a lot of fun because you’d see cousins that you hadn’t seen in a while. Those are the memories that I have, getting to spend a few days with them and opening presents and it was just a lot of fun back then.”

Jennifer Nettles (Christmas 2013) 1 OC: …excited about that. :44
“Christmas is super exciting this year, because I have a one-year-old, and granted, while he had been born just before Christmas last year, he was just a little lump, just a little sugar lump [laughs] at that point. Now, he’s walking around, and he’s into everything. He gets excited about discovery, and so getting gifts for him that he can enjoy and learn from and that will intrigue him for about 10 seconds until he moves on to the box really excite me right now. So, I’m excited about that, and starting our own holiday traditions, ‘cause I think the season is definitely more special when seen through the eyes of a child, so I’m excited about that.”

Jennifer Nettles (Christmas 2013) 2 OC: …would be fun. :45
“Typically, I decorate. Now this year I have not yet, because we’re trying to move into a new house, and so we’re not quite in there yet, but yet we’re very much in a transition, I will say. That’s been a theme – transition and change and growth and evolution, all that has been a theme for me this year and continues to be. So, we’re trying to get into a new house, so I haven’t decorated, but I do love doing it, but what I love more is entertaining. So, I hope that once we get into this house, I’m hoping to be able to do something for the New Year, ‘cause I love New Year’s. We’ll make Christmas be about Grandmas, and we’ll go over to Grandmas’ and do all that, but I hope to able to be settled enough in the new house to be able to host something for New Years would be fun.”

Josh Turner (favorite Christmas food) OC: …favorite food. :15
“My favorite food to eat at Christmas time is probably the fried turkey that my daddy makes every year He started that several years back, and it became a hit with our family, and so he ended up doing it. He’s been doing it every year since, so that’s always been my favorite food.”

Kacey Musgraves (Christmas puzzle tradition) OC: …a little tradition. :28
“My grandpa has a scavenger hunt puzzle that he does every year. Even though I’m like too old for the puzzle, he’s like, ‘You’re still gonna do it.’ So, every year we do that, and it’s funny ‘cause sometimes you’ll find your present in the bathroom or in a tree or out behind the shed. He does a little trail of like either corn or a string to it. It’s very imaginative, and it’s something I look forward to every year. It’s a little tradition.”

Kacey Musgraves (Christmas stockings) OC: …are fun. :07
“Stockings. I love stockings. They’re kinda my favorite, ‘cause it’s like all the little goodies in there just are fun.”

Lauren Alaina (favorite Christmas memory) OC: …on it. :09
“This is Lauren Alaina, and my favorite Christmas memory is when I got my Barbie bike when I was like six years old and I thought I ruled the world because it had a horn and it had Barbie’s picture on it.”