Thirsty for more holiday traditions? Catherine O'Hara has got a few—none of which involve accidentally leaving your 8-year-old to fend for himself.
For starters, "there's movies that I have to watch every Christmas," the Schitt's Creek alum and Home Alone mom shared with E! News last year. On her list: Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire's 1942 classic Holiday Inn, which introduced the world to Irving Berlin's "White Christmas," A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, It's a Wonderful Life and, yes, Home Alone, of which she joked, "Oh yeah, have to force my kids to watch that."
But nothing says Merry Christmas, you filthy animal quite like the practice she's carried over from her years growing up in Toronto as the sixth of seven children. "My dad would go outside the house and pretend to be Santa," O'Hara explained. "They would buy pajamas and my mom would go in the bedroom and say, 'Oh, Santa's here.'"
Gathered in front of the locked front door, they'd hear the muffled sounds of her dad as Kris Kringle "so we're insanely excited," she shared. "They were fresh pajamas that we'd get every Christmas. And then, of course, we couldn't sleep because Santa had already been to the house and was coming back later and we'd just be lying in bed, stiff bodies, our eyes open, out of our minds excited. So I did that for years with my kids. My husband and I, he'd go outside and ring the bell."
Now, her sons with production designer Bo Welch are 28 and 25, she noted, but "I bet they'll still go along with it if I asked them."
And the three-time Emmy winner isn't the only one in Hollywood with a sentimental streak, with everyone from Kate Hudson to Zooey Deschanel gift wrapping their favorite family traditions for E! News.
All we want for Christmas (and Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa...)? To recreate a few of these celeb-approved customs. Okay, fine, and Taylor Swift tickets—a news team can dream.
—With reporting by Marenah Dobin, Alyssa Morin, Charles O'Keefe, Alex Ross & Mike Vulpo