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Keith Urban and his family are getting into the holiday spirit by watching some beloved Christmas movies (A Christmas Story, It’s a Wonderful Life and Charlie Brown Christmas are some of his favorites), decorating with lights, listening to festive music and, of course, a trip to the beach.
It’s a tradition that dates back to Urban’s childhood. Growing up in Australia, where it’s summer during the holiday season, the “Wild Hearts” artist used to head to the beach after opening presents. Now, he and his wife, actress Nicole Kidman, and the couple’s daughters Sunday and Faith still love having a tropical Christmas. Urban compared the holiday celebrations in Australia to celebrating the Fourth of July in the U.S.
“I have great memories of getting up early and going and jumping on your parents’ bed and getting them up,” Urban reflected in a statement previously shared by his record label. “You know, and then of course you tear open the presents and then it’s done and it’s like eight in the morning, and you’ve got all morning now to sort of wish you had more presents to open. We had great Christmases growing up. I really, really enjoyed them. Mostly, we’d go to the beach, you know, ’cause there it’s summertime. Load up the station wagon and head off to the beach.
“Yeah, we still love going to the beach at Christmas time, as long as we’re in Australia, because it’s like the Fourth of July. It’s huge,” Urban continued. “Everybody’s out. It feels very celebratory. It’s in the ‘90s. It’s crazy, but having grown up with that, it feels very natural to me. Albeit it, we still had all of the same Christmas songs, so we’re in like 90-degree heat with shorts and tank tops singing ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland,’ and I remember getting Christmas cards of like Santa on a surfboard, so that probably explains a lot.”
Listen to Urban’s Christmas song, “I’ll Be Your Santa Tonight,” here: