Country Stars Celebrate the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Country stars tour constantly, but when it comes time for Christmas, there's no place like home. The Boot caught up with some of your favorite musicians to talk favorite holiday traditions, music and memories, along with plans for celebrating on their rare time off from the road.

Vince Gill: "Playing music together is how Amy (wife Amy Grant) and I became friends. Christmas music was the first thing we had the opportunity to experience together, so it 's always been kind of reverent to us when Christmas comes around and we get to sing all those old carols and holiday tunes. The Christmas songs hold a special place in my heart because of that."

Carrie Underwood: "'O Holy Night' is my favorite Christmas song. It talks about the grandness of that night, and it's very powerful -- singing it and listening to it. I remember singing 'The First Noel' in our little children's church choir, and that's one of those songs that anybody can sing along. I remember as a kid singing it and having no clue what it meant. I just knew I didn't have to remember a whole lot of words to be able to sing it. And now that I'm older and can put a prettier touch on it, and actually sit back and think about it, it's just one of those that has a different meaning to me as an adult."

Kenny Chesney: "My favorite holiday song is 'Christmas in Dixie.' Growing up in the South, I can remember hearing that a lot. I mean, every Christmas, you heard Alabama. You heard Randy Owen singing 'Christmas in Dixie.' It was one of those songs that my hometown radio station played every year. I always remember loving that song, and then I got into the music business and was able to get to know Randy and Mark, Teddy, and Jeff. They just mean so much to me."

David Nail: "When I was young, we lived right across the street from my grandparents, so all morning long we'd watch the rest of the family drive in to their house for Christmas dinner. We were usually the last ones to get there, and all morning there was the anticipation of getting together with the family. Once we got there the food came out, we would eat, and then we'd open gifts. Then we had a race to see who could catch my dad sneaking back across the street to our house to take a nap, because he was always the first one to start dozing off on the couch after we ate."

Miranda Lambert: "I love, love, love holidays. It's my time to really be a girl. I grew up with all the decorations and cooking, and I get really domestic during holidays. It's kind of weird because it's so opposite of who I am on stage. But I love to bake cookies and cook dinner for the whole family, and I have every decoration you can think of. I like to have a tree in every room, and it's just my time to get ultra-girly. I'm usually off during the holidays so I really get to spend time with people I really care about."

Lauren Alaina: "My favorite Christmas moment was when I got my Barbie bike when I was six years old. I thought I ruled the world because it had a horn and it had Barbie's picture on it."

Scotty McCreery: "Spending time with my family is a priority during Christmas. It's been tough on me, being out on the road and not being able to spend as much time with them as I usually do. We'll get together and talk about what has been going on and just reflect on the year and spend some quality time together."

Sara Evans: "My whole life growing up, we would have a huge Christmas celebration, because my family's huge. We would spend Christmas Eve at my Granny and Paw-Paw's house, and then we would go home and it was the only night out of the whole year that we were actually OK with leaving and going home because we knew that Santa was coming. And then we'd have a huge Christmas breakfast at my mom's."

Jerrod Niemann: "I do try to wrap my own gifts, and I am totally a guy. I mean, I am sure some guys are good at that stuff, but I can't even cut a straight line with scissors. One time I got suckered into working at this clothing store during the holidays when I was in high school, and they had me in the gift-wrapping area, and you should have seen these poor people when I handed them their gifts. I know when they got home they just re-wrapped them because my wrapping was hideous. So my mom usually likes to wrap the present I get for people because she doesn't want the Christmas tree to look like it's covered in trash."

Brad Paisley: "I'm pretty last-minute as far as Christmas shopping goes. Most guys are, I think, like me. You just don't invest enough, you don't think ahead and plan it. I really do end up somewhere like the mall or something on the 24th. It's a shame. It's really a waste of what should be a fun day, because here I am scrambling around going, 'Oh, I think they'll like that.' They may have never heard of it, and I don't know what it is necessarily, but let's buy it! And I could give it to somebody. You end up buying all these things, and it's just a waste."

Kellie Pickler: "I love the Grinch! It's my favorite holiday video. The best part about Christmas is being able to turn on the TV and see the cartoon, 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas.' Bah, humbug."

Joanna Smith: "Christmas around the Smith house has a definite pattern to it. We wake up on Christmas morning, and it does not matter if I'm 50 years old, my parents are still gonna treat me like a kid, which is sweet -- although slightly embarrassing -- and my sister and I walk down the hall and they take our picture and we come around the corner and Santa Claus has been there! And we look at all these gifts and open them, and then there is undoubtedly going to be a candy trail to our big, grand-finale Christmas gift. And we follow a trail of usually Reese's Peanut Butter Cups down the steps and outside, and there will be something awaiting us. So, the older we get, the more dorky it seems that we still do this stuff, and the smaller the grand-finale prize gets. But that's our Christmas tradition! I make a big fuss at it, and I have to act like I hate it, but truly I love it and look forward to it, and yes, I will subject my own kids to the same form of torture."

Lee Brice: "I'm going to be with my son, Takoda, on Christmas, and then I'll head for home, which is North Carolina. Some of my buddies and I established a tradition some years ago where we get out of the house and go camping around Waccamaw Lake. We get out in the woods, catch up on the past year and just clear our heads to get ready for the New Year."

Josh Thompson: "I love the holidays mainly because, to me, it's not about getting anything. I love giving gifts, but more importantly, I love just being around family. Especially since I moved to Nashville, it's only certain times of year that I can actually go home and spend quality time with my mom, sisters, nieces, cousins -- that's what I look forward to. Basically just sitting on the couch, watching hunting shows, eating too much. Family time."

Chris Young: "Christmas is definitely my favorite time of year. I've got traditions at my house. Every year, me and my family always put up the tree together at my parents' house. And it's funny, because we have boxes and boxes of ornaments that don't match, but somehow, once they all get on the tree, it looks like they were meant to be there. We've got ornaments from when my parents were kids and when we were kids, and you talk about that when you're hanging stuff on the tree. And it's just a time to really remember everything that you've done and be with your family."