Sarah Barlow + Stephen SchofieldWhat’s a girl to do if she’s Jewish and doesn’t celebrate Christmas, but loves Christmas music? Well, she could listen to that music during a holiday other than Christmas — like Thanksgiving, for example. At least, that’s what Rachel Platten says she and her family does.
“Every Thanksgiving my family and I…we’re Jewish, but we put on Christmas songs,” she tells ABC Radio, laughing. “The whole thing is wrong!…[W]e don’t celebrate Christmas, so during Hanukkah, we feel wrong about doing that. But we love Christmas songs, so we put [them on during Thanksgiving] and we dance around the kitchen.”
As for the food, Rachel says, “I make only one thing. It’s the only thing I can’t ruin: sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top. And then I basically play piano the rest of the time and my dad gets annoyed.”
Asked to reveal her secret recipe for the sweet potatoes, Rachel ‘fesses up: “It’s so easy and bad! I always promote healthy living, but OK, I’m just gonna go and tell the truth. It’s canned yams – Oh my God, don’t kill me! And then it’s like orange juice, maple syrup and marshmallows. It’s really easy. I think a four-year-old could do it.”
Meanwhile, this Thanksgiving there’ll be a special addition to Platten family celebrations: a new baby.
“[On] Thanksgiving…I demand that I have three days off at least,” Rachel tells ABC Radio. “My sister’s about to give birth any minute, so I’m heading to [New York City] and I’m gonna be singing at hospitals on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving.”
And you’d better believe that the “Fight Song” star is thrilled about being a first-time aunt to her sister’s baby girl. “It’s her first kid!” Rachel says. “I plan to spoil her rotten!”
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
