From the Kitchen Table: The Duffys - An All-American Christmas

Episode Date: December 23, 2021

This week, Sean & Rachel bring six of their nine children to the Kitchen Table to share their favorite Christmas traditions. Follow Sean and Rachel on Twitter: @SeanDuffyWI & @RCamposDuffy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Mejuri. From November 25th to December 2nd, get 25% off everything on orders over $150 in Mejuri's biggest sale ever. From bold hoops to minimalist stacks, Mejuri has something for everyone. Mejuri makes handcrafted fine jewelry for every day made with responsibly sourced materials.

So you can look and feel good about gifting and wearing them. Shop your wishlist 25% off at Mijeri.com today. Hey everyone, welcome to From the Kitchen Table. I'm your host, Sean Duffy, along with my co-host for the podcast, but also my partner I'm your host, Sean Duffy, along with my co-host for the podcast, but also my partner in life, Rachel Campos Duffy. Wow, that sounded like such an announcer voice. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Rachel Campos Duffy. Well, listen, today we really truly are around the kitchen table, Sean. And we have some really, really special guests, maybe the most special guests we've ever had on the show. And we've some really, really special guests, maybe the most special guests we've ever

had on the show. And we've had some pretty awesome guests. We have had awesome guests, but these ones are pretty good. They're pretty good. And they literally are around our kitchen table all the time. That's right. And usually we have like one guest, maybe two guests, but we are going to go for the fences here and have six little guests join us on our podcast, which is six of our nine kids joining us to talk about Christmas. That's right. Oh, yeah. There's only six of them. Right. Yeah. Valentina's not here. Yeah, she can't talk. Yeah, she can't talk yet. So anyone who can't talk or who is a teenager who's not willing to be on a podcast. We have a few teenagers here that are willing to be on a podcast.

Anyway, these are our children. Yeah, we want to talk about Christmas and the Duffy family traditions around Christmas and get our kids' perspective on what we do, what they like, what they don't like, what their favorite things are about Christmas. Kind of fun. Yeah, that's right. So we're going to start with Patrick.

He's the youngest one here. We're going to actually see how this goes. So, Patrick, what do you love about Christmas? When you sit on the steps and sing. Oh, that's right. He's talking about right before on Christmas morning, we make them sit on the steps and they have to sing away in a manger before they can go down and get their presents. So you like that moment because you like singing away in a manger or because what? Because I like to sit on the steps. Sure you do. So what happens after you sing away in a manger?

Open the presents. That's right. Yeah. So what's key is that the kids can't go downstairs and see what's under the tree until mom and dad are up. And we sing away in the manger. So it kind of is a dual purpose. One, we're going to remember the reason for the season.

Which is what? What's the reason for the season, Margarita? Because Jesus was born. It's Jesus' birthday. That's right. So you sing to him one last time before you get all your presents, right? From Santa Claus. What's your favorite part about Christmas?

This is Margarita. She's in second grade. She's seven. She had her first confession this fall and in the spring she's going to have her first communion. The last day before Christmas. Yeah, that's awesome. Like Christmas Eve. I like that too. You go to church, you have a

big meal. You go to bed, you're waiting for Santa Claus to come. That's exciting. It's kind of fun. Well, yeah, opening presents are fun, right? So we're going to kick it to the oldest of the crew, Evita, who's 22. And Evita, let's get your perspective on the Duffy family Christmas. What do you enjoy?

First of all, maybe I should ask it this way. So what do you enjoy when you're little? What do you enjoy now that you're a little bit older? What are some of the, and also what are the, it's like a multifaceted question. What are the traditions that you like and would try to keep and what traditions maybe would you go, these are not fun. I'm getting rid of them. Okay. So I loved when we were little, we actually haven't done it in a long time. We used to always go on a sleigh ride every year. And it was, we had- Hard to do in Jersey.

That's true. There's no snow anymore. Yes. So that's kind of sad. And I love that when I was little. Yeah, we would do a horse-drawn sleigh and go on a sleigh ride. That was super fun.

And the jingle bells through the woods. I remember I had a friend who happened to have, it was before Christmas. So it wasn't the day. It was like a few days before and I had a friend over and she thought it was so magical because she had to go with us and i was sort of shocked like oh i guess other families don't not everybody goes on a horse in the woods in wisconsin like like uh laura angles no little house on the prairie. You know what it sounds like to me, Vida? Sounds like you're dreaming of a wife.

Don't sing. That's one thing that the Duffies are not good at. So true. None of us. No singing. That's very, very true. Okay, so that's one of your favorite childhood memories. What were you looking for when you were coming home this Christmas from college?

You know, I love everybody being together. I like making cookies. I like- Which we're going to do today. Which we're going to do today. I also, one of my favorite ones, a persisting tradition that I'm really looking forward to,

we haven't done it yet, is reading the best Christmas pageant ever. Oh, yeah. It's a classic book and dad usually reads it. But the last couple of years, I've actually started to read it. And now we have more readers in the house.

I guess we'll all sort of take turns doing chapters. That's true. That is actually really fun. Sometimes we start a little bit too late at night and dad gets tired. So he passes the book off and goes, why don't you read it? Yeah. Sometimes the herd men seem a lot like the deaf,

like just wild and crazy and we can't control the kids. No, a hundred percent. So, all right. So those are actually two really good traditions that I forgot. We're supposed to read the book. We haven't done it yet, which I love. Okay. So let's go to, so Lucia is 17. Lucia, tell us your favorite Duffy family tradition. So what do you like? Yeah, she's a senior and looking at colleges. I have two favorite. So my first would be when we cut down the Christmas tree and I, the YouTube video that we have online of when dad like pushed it down. I still remember that.

And that was really fun. That was. Do you remember what happened right after he pushed it down? You were so little and your instant reaction was. Yeah. And then. As they get olderlly. He's a jolly. Yeah. And then. As they get older, I'm not so jolly anymore, I guess.

So like he said, dad, bah humbug. I was jolly. He's Scrooge now. Oh, please. Come on. And then my second favorite thing is this one also goes to dad because he's really good at this. He always has his music playing the Christmas music. Yeah. All the time.

And I don't do this anymore. But I remember dancing around the Christmas tree to the Christmas music. And that was rocking around Christmas tree. He was just talking about that in an earlier podcast. How he loved that song. And you guys dancing around to that song. I see Maga sometimes dance on a Christmas tree. That was really good. Lucia. I know you're a little shy, Christmas tree. That was really good, Lucia.

I know you're a little shy, but I tell you, I think you're made for podcasts. We'll be back with much more after this. This episode is brought to you by Mejuri. From November 25th to December 2nd, get 25% off everything on orders over $150 in Mejuri's biggest sale ever. From bold hoops to minimalist stacks,

Missouri has something for everyone. Missouri makes handcrafted fine jewelry for every day made with responsibly sourced materials. So you can look and feel good about gifting and wearing them. Shop your wishlist 25% off at Missouri.com today. We're going to go to Paloma because Paloma loves Christmas. And she, I mean, I just have so many fun memories of her. She was the Virgin Mary in a school Christmas play, which was one of my favorite memories. I might quick just tell that little story just because it's so cute. Paloma wanted to be the Virgin Mary in the Christmas play. And we were in New York City at St. Patrick's Cathedral. And I told her, by the way, this is in our book, All-American Christmas. But I told her to pray.

And I told her to light a candle and pray. And she could ask the Virgin Mary and Mary in the school Christmas play. Well, when we got home, they made the choice and they picked somebody else. And you were what? You're like a sheep or something. You were originally you were picked to be a sheep. She was chosen to be a donkey. So I felt terrible because I told you to pray and then it didn't work out. And I was like, oh my God, what have I done? Maybe like caused her faith to be shaken or something.

And then one day I was driving up to school and Paloma came running out and she was so excited. She was to be a donkey. And I said, what? Yeah, Mary wants to be a donkey. And I couldn't figure out what was happening. Well, it turned out that after she explained in a little more detail that the little girl who was chosen to be married decided she didn't want to be Mary after all. She wanted to be a donkey. And so then Paloma was chosen to be the Virgin Mary. And so that was our little Christmas miracle. And I remember going to the pageant play and Paloma, you were such a great Virgin Mary.

You were so reverent. You really tried to channel all that holiness and you took it so seriously. And I know it happened many years ago, but it feels like yesterday. Cause you were so amazing at it. So tell us about, that's my favorite Christmas memory about you.

Tell me your favorite Christmas memory. My favorite part about Christmas is decorating the Christmas tree and like doing the Christmas plays with like Margarita and Patrick. Oh yeah. You guys put on little plays as well. And you guys do the, you're now you've gone from being in the play family play to directing all the other kids in the family play. And you are very good at putting on ornaments and doing the tinsel. You're kind of a perfectionist. That's kind of your nature. So it works out well with tree decorating. So it works out well with tree decorating.

I love doing the Christmas tree as well. The whole process of getting the tree, getting the tree in the house, the complication of getting the tree in the stand, trying to get the tree straight, lighting it, and then ornaments. And so much fun. Never as much fun taking the Christmas tree down. Yeah, usually you seem to find a way to not be around. I get to be busy during the tree disassemblage.

One of the bad parts about being a mom. You get stuck with the bad work. To the final child. No, there's two more left. No, there's one left. She did a mini one. She's going to say a little bit more. Let's go to Maria Victoria,

also known as Muddy V. And Muddy V. We do call her Muddy. Sometimes we call her Muddy. What is your favorite memory of Christmas and Christmas tradition? What do you like the most? The forts that we do in our room. Explain that.

Well, every Christmas we go, we make a fort, and then we sleep in it. And then when we wake up, we can go downstairs. So on Christmas Eve, you guys build a fort, right? And in your bedrooms. And then all the kids come together and sleep in the fort on Christmas Eve, all under one set of blankets in your fort. Then you wake up together on Christmas morning to go down and sit on the steps and wait until mom and dad get up and we sing away in the manger, right?

It's fun. I love seeing you guys in there and wishing you guys good night. You guys are all giddy. You know Santa's coming. It's very exciting. Do you love Santa? Yes. How much do you love Santa Claus? So much.

So much. Do you love Santa Claus, Margarita? Yes. Can you, just before we go, tell us a little bit about who Santa Claus is? So Santa Claus, his parents died when he was little, and they're rich. So he started giving out his money to poor and churches. He started giving out his money to poor and churches. And then the Romans didn't like how they believed in just one God. They believed in many.

And so they got mad. So then they started kidnapping the Christians, but they somehow got away. And then they bring their churches, and they got St. Nicholas, who was a priest. He was a bishop. A bishop, and they took him into prison. Prison? Yeah. Prison, and they locked him up for a really long time. And then once there was a new king, and he believed in Catholics.

Yeah, Count Stantinople, right? And he let all the Christians go. And then the person who tried to burn their churches down and kidnap the Christians went to jail. And then he went back and all the Christians built the church when he was gone. So when he was a little boy and all the way until he was grown up, he would give little gold coins and things to poor people and try and save them and help them. That's right. And so, yeah, you know the story of St. Nicholas. I love that all this stuff. You're so smart.

And he died and then he came back to life and he gave presents all around the streets. Right. We call him Santa Claus, but he's really St. Nicholas, right? He's a saint. He is a saint. So this is a unique

podcast for us as we've kind of talked to the kids about some of our family traditions and kind of what we do and what they like. And I know so many parents around the country and around the world spend so much time preparing for this season, for their families and for the birth of Christ and making it meaningful and thinking about the traditions that they had when they were little and what traditions they're going to carry forward with their own families. And it's just a wonderful, special time of year. I have so many favorite memories and traditions that we do at Christmas. I think my favorite is when we get the cake, we have a cake on Christmas Day and we have candles and we light them.

And what do we sing to the baby Jesus? Happy birthday, right? Happy birthday. So, yeah, I was just going to say, let's end the podcast singing happy birthday to Jesus. It's a little early, but we'll sing it.

Let's go. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Jesus. Happy birthday to you. That's right. Merry Christmas, everybody. Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. We're getting silly. He's getting wild. That's right. I love it. All right. Thank you, everyone, for listening.

Please subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or at foxnewspodcast.com. We were so blessed to have our children on the show today. Thank you for listening, and Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Enjoy your family. I'm Guy Benson. Join me weekdays at 3 p.m. Eastern as we break down the biggest stories of the day

with some of the biggest newsmakers and guests. Listen live on the Fox News app or get the free podcast at guybensonshow.com.