secular but they do similar things to what the fundamental beliefs and christianity do. they unitas for common practices that we come from different backgrounds and we celebrate the holidays in unique ways. >> natalie those traditions into something new and beautiful bringing the irish and the spanish and mexican christmas in catholic traditions together. >> over the everyone to adapt and adopt traditions and in some cases. that's not part of the tradition. [laughter] >> the fox family members will join us to tell their holiday stories as well as the role religion plays in their lives in celebration of the savior's birth. >> matter what part of the country where born in or now live or where the traditions originate whether an only child for a large group the members of the extended fox family have a few things in common. christmas was a time of year they all associate with family, food, sign in childhood memories bringing joy to their lives. battle hardened jesse waters has learned a few things. among them it doesn't matter that much but this is a great way to show that you care. >> i was materialistic as a child. i use to write to santa claus to get big screen tv and electric cars my parents try to temper expectations that this will be a very thin christmas this year and i should not expect all sorts of big-ticket items. i had my expectations lowered so they did get nice things i was very happy. so in terms of giving when you're for christmas my mother set a limit for christmas is respect. so i went to the computer i wrote respect and printed it and put it in a frame and i gave my mother respect that year for christmas. she was very happy with that. now christmas means a lot to me i have twin girls who are ten years old. a very young son who will be nine months at christmas. his first christmas. we will deliver gifts. but the santa claus hats maybe matching pajamas. maybe. i have a reputation to uphold. it's my favorite holiday. >> christmas is a good reminder of the sacrifices made and then to always strive for the good things in life. >> coming from a different type of family. we didn't have much. but if there is one thing that brought us together if that is the reason for the season then we would come together as a family. part of the tradition was being in the kitchen cooking and all the dishes. it was the meeting spot. and then to check out the other communities so the tradition always started on thanksgiving night. and we had multiple stuffing the stockings and listening to net king cole. during that period of time we had asked on —- the aspiration we wanted to see the lights in the other communities. and to be known as the rich neighborhood. it was never about envy. it was one that will get the opportunity to buy a house. so we will go into the neighborhood. we see who has the decorations it was something to achieve them bigger than ourselves. one of these days we can buy one of those houses. >> and can be tough to get over it and how the relationship was santa began. >> i would just say disappointed was santa. so that one gift that you asked santa for just because it fits the bill. >> what the giants planned the jupiter. >> just a simple request. >> so i expected that a very short list. no sears catalog. here comes christmas i open it i check everything and then it's the little box and i said i will save it until the end and i open it up. it is one of the outer space and then but not the one that could take but it was a guy with tiny in arms and a tiny body in a brain outside of his head my parents thought it would be a good idea for them to explain why this was an intentional deception to stay in life when you have big brains you do big things and his brains were so big and he was so smart they burst outside his goal. you should be happy with the guy with the brains outside of his head. i wasn't i understood the rationale but i was not buying it understood the hand that i was dull and i learned to like the guy with the brain outside of his head until the next year when i see my brother get a gift. so not only did i not get it, but somebody in my family got it that i asked for the year before that yet they thought it would be better that they got it so is this a scenario where santana shopped a little late and that was the only thing left outside his head? because i was the last on their mind i got the skinny guy is this a gift of convenience? and then people realize guess what i got in the mail? >> santa you are forgiven. people, with quickbooks live someone else will do your books for you. they'll even pair you with an expert bookkeeper like me, who knows your business. knows your business! expert bookkeepers who understand your business. intuit quickbooks live bookkeeping. wow... that's so nice! is that a photo of tepechitlan? yeah! the gift of ancestry®, is a walk through your history. do you remember who this is? it's a gift that surprises you, moves you, and bonds you. ...papa? i can see the nose and everything. she was the original strong woman. i know. this holiday, give the gift of family. give the gift of ancestry®. ♪ with directv stream i can get live tv and on demand anywhere. look, serena williams... matrix... serena... matrix... serena... matrix... ♪ ♪ ♪ get your tv together with the best of live and on demand. introducing directv stream. mom, hurry! our show's gonna start soon! i promised i wouldn't amiss the show and mommy always keeps her promises. oh, no! seriously? hmm! it's not the same if she's not here. oh. -what the. oh my goodness! i don't suppose you can sing, can you? ♪ the snow's comin' down ♪ -mommy? ♪ i'm watching it fall ♪ watch the full story at www.xfinity.com/sing2 >> christmas reminds us of all the gifts of love and generosity receiving from her mother and grandmother to make the holidays a special. >> when i think about christmas i think of jesus and the reason for the season and wonderful church services i attended over the years and on christmas eve we go to the candlelight vigil and they had beautiful decorations our family was very involved and we made a lot of ornaments and we had a fire at the church so mom and i cross stitched all of those that are still hanging in my home church to this day. after we open the presence we would drive 30 minutes to the grandparents house green beans, rice and gravy we had turkey and then after we would eat together we open presents. and then the parents said in the periphery of the room next to the fold christmas tree my grandmother was 5-foot one. we would gather and then just tear into the gift. my grandfather would always have a fire anyone hear the crackling and we would see that smell that when we would walk into their house. he would call out and then we would run inside. i have wonderful memories and i am so grateful. i love my family for raising me in such a traditional family in south carolina. and then going to church on sunday and what that means for all of us just grateful to my family. >> and then to be remember to be grateful for those quiet moments. >> going up the youngest of six kids in a family of a in the midwest i longed for traditional christmases with santa claus coming down the fireplace i long for those quiet moments and rarely did we get those. my dad is the eldest of 11 children me had huge christmas eve's very near and dear to my heart i always love the holidays and the decorations and then with the ornaments putting them around the tree and it is the ornaments that you made that were so proud to hang them i always enjoy those moments but then i graduated college and started my career in tv, all of a sudden my christmases took on a whole new chaos going up in a big family as a kid and then the chaos that you can enjoy your thanksgiving meal back in chicago you will get back on the plane that night to report on black friday for many years for foxbusiness. many years went by with holidays where i was is reporting getting on planes even if it was just for a few days and again i just longed for the quiet moments and again i always promised myself i would have that one day. and one christmas eve i got on an airplane. i was supposed to and five back to chicago to visit my husband and my family at the time he was my boyfriend little did i know he had planned to propose to me on christmas eve. i miss my flight the plane took off without me in a could not get home and how the following day in a ruling to the entire surprise but it's a memory because that's when i got engaged to my husband. but it's another example of chaotic christmas. and in that moment i promised myself one day we would have a family and we would be sharing with them our engagement story and then to being nestled by the fire with a new tradition years went by we had a baby girl and then a baby boy now we have a really special place we go have the old tradition up and not and admits the chaos i long for those moments and that's what i joined with my family and my little ones hi. i'm shannon storms bador. when we started selling my health products online our shipping process was painfully slow. then we found shipstation. now we're shipping out orders 5 times faster and thanks to shipstation's discounted rates we're saving a ton. honestly, we couldn't do it without shipstation join over 100,000 online sellers who get ship done with shipstation go to shipstation.com /tv and get 2 months free. reflecting on what we have that the real joy is the things that make us remember family and loved ones and christmas joy. >> in the real versus artificial christmas tree debate and if you know i am obsessed with christmas it might surprise you to learn which team i am on. spoiler but for a very special reason i grew up in california. the youngest of three girls and at the age of 35 my mother was diagnosed with an aggressive advanced form of breast cancer when my sisters and i were all under the age of ten. at that point obviously it rocked her family we are so close and it where friends or the whole neighborhood was devastated at the time of the diagnosis my dad was a young united states navy physician and was managing her care in treatments as well as raising three daughters by himself at home. don't get me wrong he was coping the absolute best way we were never without lover nurturing her care. but that first christmas we would not have a christmas tree. my dad did not have time for that. now our beloved neighbors we consider them surrogate grandparents and a when the girls would not have a christmas tree and we heard a knock on the door we open it and they are standing there with a huge box and inside was an artificial christmas tree complete with snow this california girl was mesmerized we put it together with all the magical lights and ornaments and it represented the sparkle beautiful symbol of the season of hope and prayer and blessings in the power of love. in time all prayers were answered to this day that remains our miracle each christmas we put up that artificial tree be because to us it is a symbol of that enduring hope of the love and faith of the guardian angels around us that they extend toward one another especially during the season and also the answer prayers spirit just finding the right balance was a struggle during childhood but the rivera family decided on a christmas hanukkah compromise. >> that is quite a concept but with the dad as a devout catholic and then the observant jew you have to compromise and make adjustments and innovate and that is what we did at first it wasn't so easy my dad from puerto rico my mom from new jersey they got here on 42nd street my mom was a waitress my dad was in charge of the kitchen help they fell in love with the romeo and juliet story with a happy ending. what did we do about christmas or hanukkah my mom insisted my dad convert to judaism he did not go to the formal process but he acknowledged to the world that now he was jewish that he really tried initially. now hanukkah is very different. over eight days and celebrations talk about the liberation of the jews. so we acknowledge hanukkah it is very modest nothing that has to do with the birth of christ. so here we were celebrating hanukkah moving from brooklyn were there was a lot of puerto ricans and jews were we were the only jewish family and the only puerto rican family so everybody was celebrating christmas nobody celebrated hanukkah. we felt very awkward and left out with no christmas celebration the way the other kids did so mom let us celebrate christmas it is after all half of the heritage. my mom was absolutely resistant and refused she would not acknowledge christmas for many years. we kept lobbying her. we feel left out. let us celebrate christmas. no. no. no. you are jewish. finally when we were teenagers we said we will take it anymore we will celebrate christmas like our friends and neighbors but this is what we will do we will call it a hanukkah bush instead of a christmas tree we had all of these compromises to placate my mom we also played rock of ages when we played jingle bells we finally got our tree it was called the hanukkah bush it was in the home my mom was disgruntled but reluctantly over the years came around instead of joy to the world that was our christmas it finally worked out we had a great time had by all. >> remembering her childhood in canada from boxing day to maple syrup the journey reminds her why it's important never to forget your. >> and lived in new york close to 20 years but i grew up in canada. born in toronto. and the thing that i remember the most about christmas was the snow first of all. ottawa is one of the coldest capitals in the world so of course we got cold air during the wintertime season you are bound to have a lot of snow. remember a lot of days i would come home i would see the weather forecast in the meteorologist would say be prepared we would get over a foot of snow so it would be in the meters is to think how do they know how much we will get now being a meteorologist i know sometimes they do get it wrong that when they get it right the snow the next day so i remember winters being called with a lot of snow and then growing up in ottawa there was ice-skating if you are a kid you are on skates pretty much right out of the gate. hockey is a big sport in canada. a lot of young men and women are on their skates on the canal the longest outdoor skating rink in the world. i remember that growing up. to go out to the canal and then there is donuts and hot chocolate afterwards. so those are the things i remember. christmas of course was an exciting time and as a kid to open the box we did not have a tree to cut it was always the box artificial tree but that was special to me because we had a tree that was very old. my father had an artificial tree when he was growing up so that in and of itself with this tree that we would put together and then put the branches into the wooden pagan sometimes we had to carve those holes because it was so old but we never wanted to get rid of it. then the decorations. i still have decorations that are close to 50 or 60 years old that my father grew up with and just opening up the ornaments brings back a flood of memories and i love to show those ornaments to my kids. he died a little after they were born. it does remind me of my father to put up the christmas tree at such a special time. >> christmas would not be christmas without the satisfied feeling of being at home with family. >> i honestly think when you talk about christmas, you can talk about one of hundreds over the course of your life but for me it wasn't presence or food but family. i have a big family. almost 30 people and it's hard to get everybody together in the same room. you get larger and more spread out, that's one of the main reasons why christmas is one of the moments you can do that. you get reconnected. and then you start to learn again where they are and it's very important with the relationships that you have. then you go through life and then of course your family. when we started this project i wanted to put a focus on family is why haven't thought about which are my grandparents you are not with us and what that meant to my grandparents that was substantial they had one child, my mom. for the parade of our family to go barreling into their house around noon on christmas day, they lit up and so did we do. that is one of the sweetest memories i have and i wanted to share with those at home will have a similar experience. christmas would not be christmas without the experience together. it's the season of smiling. and at aspen dental, we make it easy to gift yourself the smile you deserve. new patients, start today with a full exam and x-rays, with no obligation. if you don't have insurance, it's free. plus everyone saves 20% on their treatment plan with flexible payment solutions for every budget. we're here making smiles shine bright so you can start the new year feelin' alright. call 1-800-aspendental or book today at aspendental.com >> the story of christmas is about the birth of baby jesus but for my family christmas was a time for rebirth and the reason why is one year when i was five years old my father passed away that was one month before christmas. of course the tragedy hit her family very hard. not the least of which was because my mother was a stay-at-home mom suddenly had to keep a roof over there on —- over our heads. she hadn't done that before. so she was at a loss to figure how she would keep a roof over her head and of course with christmas a few weeks away how she would maintain the spirit of christmas that she could do it not just in the first year but every christmas after that. christmas is around her house were fairly simple presence for very modest but each one was thoughtful and appreciated. and that was a tradition we carried on throughout our lives. i remember being at christmas celebrations where there were dozens of presents under the tree. they were ripped open with such a stan cast aside no one took in what was going on what it was, or the meaning or any real appreciation. i thought that's not my idea of christmas mine is a very special gift that one or two you would cherish and i remember my 13th birthday my mother was working at a receptionist at a car dealership making only $90 a week i love guitar and playing in the band. i remember a combination birthday and christmas present she got me a beautiful gorgeous blonde fender telecaster which was beyond my wildest dreams. she saved up money for years to buy it. that was one of my most treasured christmas gifts. that is the spirit i tried to emulate going forward. the tendency of young children is to say i want this and this. but you do them a disservice giving it everything that they want. a much better tradition is to give your child one or two very special gifts that they will cherish as with those i did for my mother. rather than lavishing on them anything they have to drop a very short list that they would want to have that are special to them and by and large they will end up with those going forward we hope they will maintain that same sense in their christmas desires and remember what christmas is all about. it's time for family to come together and to be closest to the ones you love i know it's like to be without the you love it's a very special time to be with family. i tradition we recently adopted after our children started to go to catholic school, there was a giving tree at our church and hanging from the giving tree were little tags of a profile of a child and what they would like to have under the tree some of them were typical like a videogame but we were moved by a couple of requests one young boy he was 12 or 13 said he wanted underwear for christmas. white kid once underwear? you really have to be a kid in need another asked for toiletries. or a hairbrush or, or things like that so we pulled the tags off the tree and got as many as we could thinking there were children out there who are under the umbrella of the church to benefit from the simplest things in life. again it comes back to the original spirit of christmas in that stable in bethlehem. there was a manger and some people. but when it comes down to it, christmas is all about the simple things and remembering the spirit of christmas and bringing together family in the most generous and happiest environment. something that will warm your heart for the rest of the heart for the rest of the year. wow... that's so nice! is that a photo of tepechitlan? yeah! the gift of ancestry®, is a walk through your history. do you remember who this is? it's a gift that surprises you, moves you, and bonds you. ...papa? i can see the nose and everything. she was the original strong woman. i know. this holiday, give the gift of family. give the gift of ancestry®. ♪ go with simparica trio it's triple protection made simple! simparica trio is the first and only monthly chewable that covers heartworm disease, ticks and fleas, round and hookworms. dogs get triple protection in just one simparica trio! this drug class has been associated with neurologic adverse reactions, including seizures. use with caution in dogs with a history of these disorders. protect him with all your heart. look, serena williams... matrix... serena... matrix... serena... matrix... ♪ get your tv together with the best of live and on demand. introducing directv stream. imagine having someone else do your books for you. as your quickbooks live bookkeeper, i'll categorize expenses, reconcile accounts, and close your books. cool. yep. know where your business stands. intuit quickbooks live bookkeeping. ♪♪ the only thing a disaster can't destroy is hope. ♪♪ donate now at redcross.org ♪ ♪ >> steve ducey recalls memories of christmas past. >> i remember shortly after our first son peter was born i've seen something in a magazine, dad had to get a picture with his child in the same spot every deanery he put all 25 or 30 together of the time lapse of both of them growing up. if i do something we decided what we would do i would stand at the bottom of the stairs on christmas morning i would paint the kids running down in the beginning it was just him but then mary came and then sally came and we did that every year close to 30 years, i can't tell you how many times my wife kathy and i across the country people would come up to us and say i saw that video that you showed on fox news channel when your kids run down the stairs i saw your kids grow up on television and that's why so many people said the same thing they say i saw you grope on television. and actually they did. we have two things that are tradition in addition to running down the stairs, you have to wrap your christmas present you cannot just drop in a gift bag, that is too easy this shows you put some time into it, then you have to put some thought into it and rather than have a card we have the kids write poems to us which are often quite humorous, terrible rhymes in some cases but a family tradition we do that every year. >> thank you so much for joining us on fox nation christmas special you can purchase all-american christmas at amazon on fox news books.com, barnes & noble or get the book anywhere that would be a great gift. >> merry christmas everybody. >> merry christmas and i love you. >> merry christmas family. >> america, merry christmas. >> merry christmas america. >> merry christmas. >> merry christmas everybody. >> for my family to yours. >> merry christmas. >> from my house to your house at home, merry christmas. >> merry christmas 12, 2021 and will be off next weekend i will see you christmas night. "sunday night in america" with trey gowdy is next. >> more than one block with nothing standing there is no moment big enough to show you the extent of the damage here. we will grieve to gather and cleanup together and we will move forward together