"I think we hold on to Christmas even harder now, because it's a tie to him and a tie to the past and to our memories," the TV anchor shared.
Savannah Guthrie lost her dad at the age of 16. It's not been easy to navigate through life having lost someone so important at such a young age. Now as a mom-of-two she makes sure to honor her father, especially around Christmas. Yes, Christmas is a special time to spend with family but Guthrie also has a different connection with the special day. It was her late father Charles's birthday. "He had a lot of Christmas traditions in his family," the TODAY co-anchor shared per TODAY. "It was really important to him to make Christmas special for us."
When she was growing up her dad would often read from the Bible on Christmas Eve. "My father would always gather us around and we would read the Christmas story in the Bible and we always really loved that, because I think it connected us to the holiday in a really spiritual and significant way," she said in the TODAY All Day streaming special, Holidays in my House. "Even as kids, we loved that moment of just being at my father's knee and feeling that there was really something eternally special about this day."
Every Christmas her father would tell her and her siblings that they couldn't open a Christmas Eve present at first. But soon enough he would give in and let them each open one. "We would open up a present and he'd say, 'Let's open them all!' and then we'd say 'No Dad, no, we have to wait until Christmas!'" the 50-year-old said. "That was just a really sweet tradition we had with my dad."
The holidays are a poignant time for her family and she wants to keep the magic of Christmas alive for her own children—daughter Vale, 9, and son Charley, 7, who she shares with husband Mike Feldman. "The fact that I lost my dad when I was 16 makes Christmas even more special to us, because it was his holiday and that's how we felt and that's how he felt," the TV personality shared. "I think we hold on to Christmas even harder now, because it's a tie to him and a tie to the past and to our memories. So Christmas just absolutely lives in my heart and lives in our family and I will spend every minute I have making sure my kids feel that magic, too."
In a moving tribute last year as the anchor turned 50, she honored the important man in her life who unfortunately did not live to celebrate the milestone. "And not far from mind or heart ever, ever: my dear daddy, Christmas baby like me," she said. "He never turned 50 from 49. But tonight I have! So I treasure this gift of life and remember you always. And thank God for a half-century of his kindness and grace and blessing."
References:
https://www.today.com/parents/family/savannah-guthrie-dad-christmas-rcna59220
Cover Image Source: (L) Instagram | savannahguthrie; (R) Getty Images | Roy Rochlin
