It’s been well-documented how much HGTV stars Ben and Erin Napier adore Christmas, with Ben even admitting his dream is to one day become the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Santa. But right after the new year, their celebrations come to an abrupt halt.
On January 3, 2025, the “Home Town” stars’ holiday decorations will disappear from their home in Laurel, Mississippi, they told Country Living, because it’s their eldest daughter Helen’s seventh birthday. Every year, they make sure the tree and decorations are gone to make room for celebrating the special occasion.
“In the morning before she goes to school she gets to say goodbye to the Christmas tree, and when she comes home it’s all gone,” Erin told the outlet.
Erin Napier Decorates Tree With Sentimental Items
Saying goodbye to the Christmas tree is sentimental for the Napiers, whose decorations hold lots of meaning and tradition. According to Country Living, they pick out their live Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving and deck it out with white lights, dried orange slice garland, and meaningful ornaments.
Among the ornaments, Erin told the outlet, are souvenirs from places they’ve traveled to and ceramic baby shoes she ordered on Etsy featuring each girl’s birth stats to commemorate their first Christmases.
In addition to their Christmas tree traditions, the Napiers told the “Today Show’s” Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager that they also look forward each Christmas to other traditions like a Christmas Eve candlelight service at their church and making Fettucine Alfredo at home with Erin’s parents.
Ben also dresses up as Santa to take a photo with his daughters, but Erin said “it’s kind of heartbreaking” to see how quickly the girls are growing with each year’s photo.
Ben & Erin Napier’s Daughters Love Christmas As Much As Them
At three and almost seven, the Napier girls were at the perfect ages to soak up the magic of Christmas in 2024. Ahead of the holiday, Erin posted a video of Ben wearing a Santa hat as he sat at his typewriter.
She showed that he was writing a letter back to his girls, who’d left a note with their cookies that said, “Santa will you please rite me a letter back.”
Though not all of Santa’s response could be seen in the video, part of the typed-up letter said, “Helen & Mae, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Nice try with the cookie on a string. This is not my first Christmas.”
Erin added a photo of the cookies they set out for Santa, which included a frosted boot cookie with a string wrapped around it, presumably to trigger something to happen once Santa picked it up and took a bite.
The girls clearly have inherited their parents love of Christmas. To celebrate her third birthday in June, Mae requested a Christmas-themed birthday party, Erin shared on Instagram. Her birthday party included Christmas cookies, a potted plant on the porch with tiny ornaments, and an appearance by Santa himself, who looked a lot like Ben.
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Why Erin & Ben Napier Have Strict Deadline for Taking Down Their Christmas Tree