Carrie Underwood shares the inspiring childhood Christmas tradition she wishes she could bring back

Carrie Underwood may be a huge country music star now, but she had humble beginnings in Oklahoma. Her whole family is still in Oklahoma, and her husband’s family is in Canada, so traveling to see their loved ones has become her family’s holiday tradition. But, it wasn’t always that way.

In fact, a trip to her grandmother’s house used to only require a walk down the street, and that trip was made all the more special on Christmas Eve.

The country singer told CMT’s Cody Alan all about one of her favorite childhood Christmas traditions in an interview, which was captured on video and posted to Facebook:

“Growing up, at Christmas, we would go to my grandma’s house. They lived down the street,” Carrie says in the interview. “We would go there, and all the kids, on Christmas Eve, and put apples, oranges and bananas in little paper bags. And, then, we would all go to the nursing home and we would sing Christmas carols up and down the halls and pass out fruit to all the people who didn’t have any visitors on Christmas Eve.” You can listen to her tell the story here:

She also admits it’s a tradition she wishes she could continue.

“I wish we still did that. That was such a great memory that I will always treasure.”

The singer says she’s tried to revisit that same nursing home to recreate the tradition, but given her fame, the plan didn’t work out so well.

“We tried, one year, back home, and somebody who was at the place told everybody. All of the sudden there were all these people that weren’t members of the nursing home who were just there. It kind of backfired, but we did try,” she said in the interview.

Underwood may not be able to easily carry this out with her family, but it is something sweet the rest of us can consider doing this season.

And just because Underwood’s celeb-status gets in the way of this one tradition doesn’t mean she hasn’t been able to create her own special moments with her family. She and husband Mike Fisher are already the parents to son Isaiah, and they’re expecting baby number two, so they have all kinds of time to create special new traditions for their kids.

When she’s not touring, cheering on her husband’s hockey games or creating new music, she’s making memories with her son, big and small, like this moment when the pair sang in the car together, which the mom shared on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQ0w5qfFOZB/?utm_source=ig_embed

The singer says finding time to carve out moments for her work and her family is all about balance — and she notes that it’s something all mothers can understand.

“Balance is what it’s all about. No matter what your job is,” Underwood told Us Weekly. “Being a mom, working and dividing your time. It is what we all have to do as mothers.”

And holidays are really the perfect time to make sure you’re finding time for family.

What special traditions will you be sharing with your family this season?