Carrie Underwood spends a lot of time traveling because of her busy career, but come Christmastime, it’s all about her family. The American Idol alum is dishing on her favorite Christmas traditions, with a lot of them revolving around food.

“I do love to cook, and I love to go all out for Christmas,” Underwood shares with her record label. “I don’t do anything super fancy – lots of casseroles and stuff like that, like broccoli rice casserole, and some sort of macaroni dish, and there’s always deviled eggs. I don’t know why we eat deviled eggs every holiday. It’s like the holiday thing to do is make deviled eggs.”

Underwood also makes plenty of sweets for her family, including one dish her husband, Mike Fisher, requests every year.

“There’s pecan pie—that’s my husband’s favorite,” Underwood reveals. “I love pumpkin pie, so I’ll always make that. My son and I will make Christmas cookies and things like that, [and] green bean casserole. That’s another one. I don’t know, I might be the only one who eats green bean casserole, but it’s the kind of thing that you just have to have it. But I love to cook, and … I love to feast. I love to get around the table. There’s way too much food to eat and everybody’s bellies are full and everyone’s happy and thankful and enjoying the food and the company.”

Underwood is a vegetarian, but she still cooks meat for her family, even though she doesn’t eat it herself.

“My perfect Christmas, generally we do a lot of traveling around Christmas,” Underwood divulges. “We’ll go see either my family or my husband’s family. I’ll spend all day cooking. I’ll make a small turkey, even though I don’t eat turkey. I’ll make myself some tofurkey, cranberry sauce, of course. Of course, sweet potato casserole. You have to have that. That’s one of my favorites because it’s a side dish and dessert, but I’ll just make a ridiculous amount of food.

“Just celebrate, have a fire,” she adds. “We wait for Santa and open our presents, then we’re off to see the next group of family. It’s all about watching it through my sons’ eyes and just getting to spend time with family.”

Underwood has fond memories of celebrating Christmas with her family in Oklahoma when she was a child. But now that she is an adult, the mother of two admits the holiday looks a little different than in her home than it did when she was a child.

“We were an artificial tree family growing up,” Underwood says. “It was easier, but now in our own home, we do the real tree thing, and we kind of try to make that a little bit of a tradition. We go and we pick it out. The boys have some say in which one we get, and they feel some ownership, and we all decorate it together and of course, have Christmas music playing in the house.

“I make cookies that were my husband’s grandmother that my kids call Gigi,” she continues. “It’s her recipe, her ginger snap cookies, and we make those. It’s super sweet. Isaiah loves to make Gigi’s cookies, because he still remembers her a little bit. So, it’s something special we get to do.”

Underwood is likely soaking up all of the family time at home as she can, since her 2023 is shaping up to be a busy year. She will resume her The Denim & Rhinestones Tour in the new year, and will also return to Las Vegas for more dates for her REFLECTION: The Las Vegas Residency at Resorts World Theatre.

Find all of Underwood’s music and upcoming shows at  CarrieUnderwoodOfficial.com.