Danica McKellar on Christmas Traditions, Celebrating 50 and Blended Family Life (EXCLUSIVE)
Here’s how the Great American Family starlet gets us into the holiday spirit!
Danica McKellar seems to be everywhere this holiday season. With three Christmas movies currently airing—A Cinderella Christmas Ball on Great American Family and also A Royal Date For Christmas and Christmas At The Drive-In on Pure Flix—plus appearances at festive events such as the Great American Family Christmas Festival, the 49-year-old actress/author/entrepreneur has been super busy.
“I’m really excited about A Cinderella Christmas Ball for so many reasons. One is I love to dance and there are waltzes, and also I helped to write this one,” the former Dancing with the Stars contestant tells Woman’s World as our cover girl (get your copy here!).
“This is the first film that I’m getting a writing credit on,” she beams. “I have contributed to others. In fact, ever since I’ve been with Great American Family, it’s been like this collaborative experience where I do get to write some scripts, which has been amazing, but this one I’ve been more involved. I wanted to do a movie that had dancing in it again like My Cinderella Romance from last year and also I wanted to highlight foster kids. I just have a heart for foster kids.”
Danica, who audiences remember from her role as Winnie on the beloved series The Wonder Years, says her latest movie contains messages she feels will resonate with viewers. “There’s a message about the importance of family. It’s just so heartwarming and there’s so much heart in this movie. There’s not going to be a dry eye,” she says of the movie, which co-stars Oliver Rice.
“There’s another couple in the movie who are trying to adopt a child,” she says, expounding on the plot. “There are two kids that they were fostering and so that storyline also has a happy and emotional ending. It’s just such a feel-good movie and hopefully, it will inspire people to consider fostering or adopting a child.”
Danica’s Christmas traditions
Family is so important to the California native, who currently lives in Tennessee. During holidays, she revels in the things she loves most. “I love a big family dinner. I take after my grandmother in that way,” she smiles. “She always had the tiniest kitchen but made so much food. I still don’t know how she did it. The dinner table was always covered with food. She was incredible. I love continuing that tradition of having a big dinner table and having everyone come.”
Her holiday gathering is a blended family celebration that includes her husband Scott Sveslosky, teenage son Draco, her mom, ex-husband Mike Verta and his new wife all enjoying the holidays together. “Delegating is great. We all chip in together,” she says. “My mom makes a great apple pie that my son loves. She also makes amazing carrots that I love. I like a lot of vegetables around at Christmas dinner so we can fill up on healthy stuff. I do the turkey and ham and my mom loves to cook, so she’s happy to do it. She lives part-time with us right now, so it makes it so convenient.
“We do Christmas all together, which is amazing. Draco’s stepmom makes this Peas Lucille. I want to call them Peas Louise because it rhymes,” she says with a laugh. One tradition she treasures is making a Yule Log for dessert. “I never bake, but on Christmas, I will do the chocolate Yule Log,” she says. “It takes me four hours to do it. It’s a chocolate cake layer and you make the cream by beating it by hand and then you roll it up and cut it so it looks like a log. I love decorating it. I’m much more comfortable decorating than baking. I get my son to help me. You get paintbrushes and put some food coloring and you paint little candy canes or snowmen and you decorate it. That’s one of my favorite traditions.”
Reflecting on Christmas memories
When Danica reflects on Christmases past, there’s a special memory that stirs. “My favorite Christmas memory was when Draco was about three months old,” she shares. “I remember sitting on the couch. The Christmas tree was lit up and there was Christmas music playing. I was holding the most precious thing in the whole wide world, and I was like, ‘Oh I get it! This is the ultimate! This is the most special and incredible time.’ I felt so happy and at peace. It’s my favorite Christmas moment.”
As the conversation turns to other memorable Christmases, Danica recalls being five years old and fixating on one particular gift she hoped to see under the tree. “I was desperate to get this one gift called Fresh and Fancy. It was a kit to make makeup,” she recalls. “I was so desperate to get it and so excited about the idea of it. I remember hammering my parents, ‘What if Santa doesn’t get it? What do we do?’
“I wrote multiple letters about it, and I remember them being like, ‘I think you’re going to get it. Don’t worry about it.’ And I’m like, ‘How can you be so sure?’ I remember Christmas morning I got Fresh and Fancy and it was like my life was made in that moment,” she says with a hearty laugh. “Looking back, I realized it was awful, but it was everything I dreamed of at the time.”
Looking ahead to 2025 and turning 50
As 2024 draws to a close, Danica is looking forward to the New Year and thinking about her priorities in 2025. “I want to continue deepening my relationship with God and not taking His blessings for granted,” says Danica, who uses The Bible Recap app every day to listen to Scriptures.
“The app is great because it tells you what to read or listen to every day. It helps you stay on track and know what you’ve read throughout the year. My faith journey just started two and a half years ago and I try to keep it fresh because the gratitude and comfort, the peace that surpasses understanding, God’s love is our greatest gift. It’s a wonderful, beautiful feeling, and all we have to do is ask for help when we are feeling stressed out. So, my resolution is to stay grateful for my support, my family, my health and everything that I’ve gotten and give all the glory to God.”
On January 3, Danica will turn 50, but she’s not stressing over that milestone. “I feel fine. I’m grateful that there are a lot of role models out there who have blazed the trail before me. When I was a kid, I thought 40 was old and oh, I was wrong,” she laughs. “It’s how you take care of yourself. I feel pretty good and I’m really grateful. I’ll just keep doing whatever I can to try to feel as healthy as I can.”
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