Thomas Rhett‘s Christmas celebrations are always a big family affair, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. The father of four reveals that he and his wife, Lauren Akins, always host for the holidays, with lots of people, lots of food, and memories that Rhett hopes will last for years to come.
“It’s insane,” Rhett reveals. “I mean, it genuinely is. And the more that our siblings have kids too — We have four, Lauren’s sister has two, my sister just had her second, my dad has a son. There are like 12 kids at my house, including 17 adults. So, what we try to do, Lauren loves for everybody to spend the night in the same place. And I think our family’s like, ‘Why do we have to spend the night?’ ‘Cause Lauren wants to watch Christmas movies until 12:00 at night, so we can all do Santa Claus together, and the kids wake up and do the thing. And so, we have about 20-something people spend the night at our house. People are sleeping on the floor, air mattresses, the whole nine [yards].”
It might be organized chaos, but Rhett loves every minute of it, especially with all of his loved ones together for the holiday.
“It’s really awesome when you get to wake up, and my mom makes homemade cinnamon rolls, and Lauren’s grandmother will make cheese grits, and I’ll do bacon and sausage,” Rhett says. “Everybody’s just kind of doing the Christmas morning all together, and opening presents takes us an eternity. But it is always really special because we’re really tight with our family and we love to do all the holidays as one giant chaotic unit.”
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Rhett’s oldest daughter, Willa Gray, is nine years old. The “Beautiful As You” singer is already in awe of how quickly time is flying by.
“When you see it on paper, it’s terrifying because that means as many years that I’ve been a dad is as many years I have left with her in my house, which is crazy,” Rhett says on Audacy’s Katie & Company.
“I saw the trend online of a dad being like, ‘They’re not going to want you to tuck them in one day [or] scream ‘I love you’ out the window when they walk into school,’” he continues. “I freaking wept like a baby when I saw that. Time is really moving by so fast and I feel like the busier you get with school, sports and career, every year keeps going faster and faster.”
Rhett’s latest album, About A Woman, is out now. The entire project was written and recorded as a tribute to Akins, whom he wed in 2012.
“The content is very familiar because it’s all coming from my memories with my wife, whether it was from younger years to high school to now to future thinking about my marriage and all those kinds of things,” Rhett tells American Songwriter. “I think my mission for this project was joy, smiling, and dancing. For the most part, it is mission accomplished.”
Rhett recently announced his 2025 Better in Boots Tour, kicking off on June 5 in Rogers, Arkansas. Tucker Westmore will serve as direct support on all dates, with Dasha and The Castellows each joining him on select dates as well. Find all of Rhett’s music and upcoming shows at ThomasRhett.com.