The 'Weird' Holiday Tradition Melissa McCarthy Has Done for Over a Decade
Melissa McCarthy
In a recent appearance on Today, Melissa McCarthy sat down with host Savannah Guthrie to promote her first holiday film, Genie, as well as give viewers a sneak peek into what exactly spending the holidays with her family entails. As we all know, tradition is a huge part of the holiday season for a lot of families, and we all have our favorites that we love to stick to year after year. When it comes to McCarthy and her family, however, you just might be surprised by their odd tradition of choice come Christmas Eve.
During the interview, the award-winning actress and mother of two describes just how much of a “sucker for a Christmas movie” she is, admitting that she often ends up watching them all year round. And while being decked out in a golden tinsel-clad outfit straight from the set of her new holiday film, McCarthy shocked viewers when she revealed that she and her family “watch all of the Lord of the Rings movies,” as one of their holiday traditions, specifying that her daughter and husband “demand” they watch the extended cuts.
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But the oddities do not stop there. Upon being asked what else she and her family like to do for the holiday season, McCarthy describes a truly unique Christmas tradition that just might take the cake in the “least likely to guess” category for a lot of us.
“Every Christmas Eve, we’ve done it for over a decade,” the actress recalls, “we do a weird meatball party,” she laughs. “As you do.”
While sharing a hearty laugh about McCarthy’s annual meatball festivities, Guthrie adds to the joke, exclaiming, “Oh, you throw a traditional meatball party,” while the two of them continue to chuckle in unison.
“We do a big meatball thing and we have everybody over and make sandwiches,” McCarthy explains of her family's truly odd choice of a holiday meal, which honestly matches perfectly with their other odd choice in “Christmas” movies.
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Throughout their conversation, McCarthy’s strong family bond is clear as day through the way she talks about her loved ones. Even when asked about what wishes she would request from a genie, McCarthy’s answer was centered entirely around her family.
“I would love to time travel, and I always have a specific dream that I would love to go back and be able to see my grandmother at 15, and my mom at 20.” she said. “Even if just for 15 minutes a day, if I could just go back and have my girls at like 6 months and then 4 [years old]," the actress reminisced. “I miss those days.”
Silly traditions aside, if there’s one thing we can all relate to, it's the never-expiring love for the closest people in our lives and our desire to be with them during the most special times of the year. Traditions play a huge role in the way we bond with our friends and family, and sometimes, the weirder the tradition, the better it is.
Watch the full segment here.
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