Thomas Rhett Wants His Family to Give Back at Christmas

Thomas Rhett and his wife, Lauren Akins, can certainly afford to buy their children — Willa Gray, 3, and 1-year-old Ada James — whatever they want. But the country music hitmaker wants to make sure his family focuses on the real reason for Christmas, instead of just the presents.

“Not that I’m mad about the way that I grew up, but I do think there’s a lot of us that really just look at Christmas in the wrong light,” Rhett shared. “And so, we definitely want to get them what they want and get their gifts and talk about Santa Claus and all that kind of mess. But I really, from a young age, would love to try to ingrain in their heads what Christmas truly is about. And we say that, but then all we really think about is the gift giving.”

“I know a lot of families that don’t even do gifts anymore and literally they go out and serve on Christmas Day,” he continued. “In theory, that sounds super cool. I’d hope that we can as a family get to a point where that is what Christmas is to our family rather than all the stuff.”

Rhett has had a big, and busy, 2018, headlining his own Life Changes Tour, as well as joining Kenny Chesney on his stadium Trip Around the Sun Tour. Rhett also had two No. 1 songs, “Marry Me” and “Life Changes,” successes that make him more than ready to give back.

“I feel like we have definitely come a long way in a couple of years,” Rhett acknowledged. “This is our second year doing our headline arena tour, which I still can’t wrap my head around. And also getting a tour with Kenny Chesney this year playing football stadiums and baseball stadiums. That’s a pretty insane experience. Getting to watch a hero of mine who I’ve been following since I was ten years old, getting to watch him play for 60-some-odd thousand people, God has been so good to us.”

“It feels like every year gets cooler and every time we put a record out, I feel like I’m becoming a better writer, and a better showman, and a better singer,” he continued. “Hopefully we’ll start doing some bigger and cooler stuff. But I’m very blessed where we’re at right now.”

Rhett already has his summer plans laid out. The Georgia native will hit the road with Dustin Lynch for a Canadian Life Changes Tour, and then head out with Lynch, Russell Dickerson and his father, Rhett Akins, on the Very Hot Summer Tour. Find dates at ThomasRhett.com.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Christopher Polk