Thomas Rhett’s Daughters to Feature in ‘CMA Country Christmas’ Special

Thomas Rhett and wife Lauren Akins are hosting this year’s CMA Country Christmas special, and the couple will get a little help from their three daughters, 5-year-old Willa Gray, 3-year-old Ada James and 9-month old Lennon Love. In a preview clip for the broadcast, Rhett and Akins are shown sitting on a couch in a home decorated for their holidays, their three daughters in their laps, all dressed in matching pajamas.

The show was filmed in September without a live audience due to the coronavirus pandemic and was designed to look like the Christmas specials of the ’60s and ’70s.

“Andy Williams, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra all had classic Christmas specials where the viewer was invited into the homes of the host to celebrate the holiday like a best friend coming to visit,” Robert Deaton, CMA Country Christmas Executive Producer, shared. “That was what we wanted to create for this year’s show. Instead of a big flashy production, we took a page from those iconic specials to say, ‘Come relax, and let’s celebrate the holidays together.’”

Rhett will perform during the show along with Kelsea Ballerini, Gabby Barrett, Dan + Shay, Florida Georgia Line, Lady A, Little Big Town, Tim McGraw and Darius Rucker with Lindsey Stirling. All of the performers were shown in the preview clip performing from various rooms of the show’s home set, many dressed in their fanciest holiday apparel.

This year will be the first time the special will be hosted by Rhett and Akins, the latter of whom recently made her CMA debut when she presented at the CMA Awards earlier this month.

The Akins family has already started celebrating the holiday season, with Rhett recently sharing a snap of his wife and daughters watching The Santa Clause together in what he wrote was the “first of many times” watching the movie this year.

“I feel like this year, everyone’s needed things to celebrate and look forward to and so it was like the second Halloween was over…I started decorating for Christmas,” Akins said on Good Morning America last week. Her husband added that he and his wife “can’t wait for you all to get to watch that and get into the holiday spirit with us.” CMA Country Christmas airs Monday, Nov. 30 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.