McEntire’s holiday season has been jam-packed with cheer; not only did she host Christmas in Rockefeller Center and crush it on Season 28 of The Voice, but she’s been delighting audiences on Season 2 of Happy’s Place alongside her fiancĂ© and co-star, Rex Linn. McEntire has always been a Christmas connoisseur, telling Southern Living in 2017 that “traditions are very important” around the holidays, sharing some of the annual activities she and her family would enjoy while growing up.
After dishing some mouth-watering details on her family’s bespoke banana pudding recipe, a staple of McEntire’s holiday season, the country legend opened up the traditions surrounding her family’s strategy for decorating the Christmas tree.
Reba McEntire’s sweet Christmas tree tradition with her family
While chatting with Southern Living, McEntire reminisced about growing up on 8,000 acres in Oklahoma, where there were fields of cedar trees for the family to chop down and take home every year.
“Daddy would get a pile of all of us kids and Mama in the truck and we’d go out into the field where there were just a ton of cedar trees,” McEntire recalled. “So we’d look, and we’d look, and we’d look. And we were like, ‘What was wrong with that one 30 minutes ago? We should have gotten it.’ We’re all hungry, ready to go home, cold. So we’d finally find the right Christmas tree, and we’d cut it down, we’d take it to the house, and we’d decorate it.”
While some families dedicate one day to adorning the tree with lights, ornaments, and various embellishments, the McEntire crew would spread out the decorating over the course of several days so that everyone could get a chance to make their vision come to life.
“Mama would let us two little girls, [my sister] Susie and myself, decorate it first,” McEntire revealed. “Well, we’d have a blast, and we’d just rear back and throw the tinsel all on it.”
McEntire continued by explaining that a few days later, her mother would suggest that McEntire’s sister Alice and other family members redecorate the tree so that everyone could get in on the festivities.
“They would take forever, and it was just gorgeous,” McEntire recalled before quickly adding that her sister Susie would almost always dislike the Christmas tree renovations. Luckily for the McEntire sisters, their mother was content allowing the kids to re-do the Christmas tree as much as they wanted.
“So we’d wait a little bit, maybe two days, we’d say, ‘Can we do it again?’ Mama said sure, so we’d take it all down, redecorate it, and it looked terrible, but we didn’t care,” McEntire recalled with a smile. “So Mama would just let us do that. She’s a good mama.”
Reba McEntire says there’s “more love” around the holidays
After McEntire’s longtime partner Rex Linn popped the question on Christmas Eve in 2024, the holiday season has only become brighter for the smitten pair, who’ve been taking part in their own holiday traditions as they plan for wedding bells. In November 2025, McEntire shared a video on social media of the pair decorating their Christmas tree together, topping the dazzling display with an angel.
During a 2017 interview with Jesus Calling podcast, McEntire spoke about the reasons of the season, relishing in the many opportunities the holidays provide to show loved ones how much they matter.
“Christmas is just a fun time of the year,” McEntire shared. “I love twinkling lights, I love the sparkles in the snow, I like Christmas songs. Everybodyâs got a bigger heart at Christmastime, because it is the season of giving: Giving gifts, feeling charitable, helping out, more love.”
