ARTISTS SHARE CHRISTMAS MEMORIES & HOLIDAY TRADITIONS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — December 15, 2009 — Nathan Lee Jackson, Sean Patrick McGraw, Marty Raybon and Bridgette Tatum share their favorite Christmas memories and holiday traditions.

Nathan Lee Jackson
“We have quite a few Christmas plans!  We’ll be having a Christmas / house warming party to celebrate our first Christmas season in our first home.  Also, next week, we’ll be hosting another Christmas party here at our house for the college-age group from our church.  We plan on being in Kentucky [our hometown] catching up and enjoying the time with our family and friends.  I’ll also be singing “O Holy Night” at my hometown church on Christmas Eve, something I’ve done many times in the past.
We spent very few Christmas mornings at our house when I was a kid, always opening presents on Christmas Eve at our place, and then traveling to where the rest of our family lived in London, KY.  We split time between my mom’s side of the family, at Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds’ house, and dad’s side at Grandma and Grandpa Jackson’s house.  Normally, we’d eat big meals at both places, and open presents afterward.  The two holiday food “staples” seemed to be the turkey at both places, and my Aunt Cleta brought her famous applesauce spice cake to the Jackson get-together.  Also, they always made punch at the Jacksons, a recipe I’m about to call my Aunt Cleta and get for our party this weekend!  We have yet another Christmas that we’re going to have to “make the best of” this year, since my last living Grandparent, Grandpa Jackson passed in November.  However, we still plan to all come together at his house.
I have a lot of favorite Christmas memories.  One of the best was when we bought my mom a pair of gloves that she had asked for, and just for the record, if she were still here, I would be dead meat for telling this story…  Mom had a great sense of humor, but was always more reserved and quiet, and never really “ha ha” funny herself.  However, after she’d opened her gloves and we’d turned our attention to other gifts, we heard her excitedly and jokingly say, “Look I’m a reindeer!”  When we turned to look, she had taken the hand-shaped cardboard inserts out of her gloves and was holding them up on both sides of her head like antlers!  We all just laughed and laughed, and we made a point to buy her gloves a time or two after that, to see if we could get a repeat!

Sean Patrick McGraw
“Christmas makes me really miss the old days and my extended family.  The McGraws are a pretty big Irish clan.  We had a lot of great Christmases at my grandparents - a little house filled to capacity with all my cousins.  I’m gonna have to go bust a few of them out of prison one of these years…. After over 300 days on the road this year my Christmas plans for ‘09 consist of going home to Nashville, enjoying my wife’s excellent cooking,  spending some quality time with her doing not a whole heck of a lot…
just kidding about going home…serious about the cousin thing…Merry Christmas to ya!”

Marty Raybon
“Our Family has always been close, my mother loved this time of year and made Christmas warm
and special ever since I can remember, Of course when our boys were small those Christmas mornings were always wonderful and exciting.  A bit of a damper this year our middle son Matthew is in Iraq and although he’s with a band of brothers I know he will miss being home, that brings a bit of sadness. I’m very proud of him and his battle buddies.”

Bridgette Tatum
“Christmas memories always include Elvis, a nativity scene or two, and southern cookin’! My Nana and Papa’s house is ALWAYS filled up each year with fragrances of good southern food, watching her set up her manger scenes and Elvis Presley singing us christmas songs well into the night. Those are my most fondest memories. Those are the things in life you can’t buy and that I treasure. God Bless everyone and their family this Christmas!”

Aaron Watson

“I’m really looking forward to just spending time at home with Kim, Jake, Jack and Jolee Kate in Abilene.  With our tour schedule, will be nice to have a few weeks off before gearing up for a busy 2010 tour schedule that’s starting to take shape.”

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