11 minute read
No Fixing, Just Fabolous
Dave and Jenny Marrs may design homes to the point of perfection, but their Christmas goals are far from it. The stars of the hit HGTV show “Fixer to Fabulous” shared with AY a glimpse of what it’s like to spend the holidays with their family of seven. Bounded by simple, yet meaningful traditions, the Marrs family holds fast to the magic of tradition and togetherness during the holiday season. We hope you enjoy this exclusive interview with Jenny and Dave.
AY: It’s clear how important family and faith are to you both. Can you describe what Christmas means to you and talk about some of your favorite Christmastime traditions?
Jenny: We always celebrate Christmas as a family. This is our time to just pause and recognize and celebrate the birth of Jesus, and to us – it’s just that in the craziness of our current life – this is a time where we actually have some downtime for a minute. So, it’s time to just slow down and be together, focus on family traditions and just spend time together.
Dave: Like Jenny said, tradition is really big in our family. We want to always be home with our kids. On Christmas Day, our parents and all of the family – they’re all welcome. Anyone is welcome to come, but we stick to that tradition of being home on Christmas morning. We have a tradition of getting a picture at the top of the stairs. It drives me nuts, but they have to sit at the top of the stairs until Jenny gets all of her pictures, and then they can run down. But it’s stuff that we did when we were children that still means a lot to us, and I hope that it is instilling
in them some of those memories that they’ll hold on to and hopefully take to their families.
AY: Speaking of passing down childhood traditions, what were some of your fondest Christmas memories from your childhood?
Dave: We always went to my grandparents’ home on Christmas Eve and spent it with my dad’s side of the family. We had that tradition. Christmas Eve was for all the extended family. And then, Christmas Day was just a time we spent as parents and children together, reflecting on the birth of Christ and what that means. We gave and received gifts, but we knew there’s a bigger picture. That was our ritual.
Jenny: For me, we did Christmas Eve at my grandma’s house with my dad’s side. We would go to her house, have dinner and then go to church as a family. Then, we would come home. That was kind of our tradition. And then, the next morning, we woke up and – same as we have done with our kids – we would all have to wait at the top of the stairs until my mom got everybody ready and got everything ready with the camera. My dad had the video camera, and we would run down the stairs. We had four kids in our family, so we would all open gifts and just spend the morning in pajamas playing with our gifts and toys. Then, we would go to my grandma’s house on my mom’s side and have a big extended family celebration. We had both sides of our family living in the same town, so it was really nice. We got to spend those two days with all of our family on both sides. I also do remember one of my favorite traditions as a kid – and still to this day – on Christmas Eve, we would go to church for a candlelight service, where at the end of the service we would all have our little candles and pass the flame, lighting each other’s candle. We do that still today, and then everyone sings “Silent Night.” It’s just a quiet reflective moment, which I’ve always loved every Christmas Eve. AY: On social media, Jenny, you have shared pictures of balloons and notes that count down the days leading up to each child’s birthday. What do you do with your kids during Christmas time to really make it special for them?
Jenny: One thing is we do have our advent countdown that we’ve done since the boys were little. Sometimes, you miss a day or two here or there because it’s busy, but we really do try to have our advent countdown. That’s where we read and reflect through the biblical history of Jesus’ birth. And then for Christmas itself, we really do try to make sure every child has the same amount of gifts, and we try to really be fair about that and make sure everybody has one gift that they’re really excited about. They may all get socks, but they have their one really good gift.
Then, we do the candlelight service on Christmas Eve at our church, and then we go to Dave’s parents’ house and have a big dinner, and it’s loud and crazy. It’s just a big family dinner, and we open gifts with his family. The kids do a kid’s gift exchange. All the cousins draw names and trade presents, which is fun. And then the next day, we get up and we basically just spend the morning at home with our kids, opening gifts and playing with toys. A little later, we go to Dave’s sister’s house for brunch and spend more time with family and then come home, relax a little bit,
Dave and Jenny Marrs sit with their family.
and then go to his brother’s house for dinner.
AY: Dave you cook a lot on a regular basis for family dinners. Do you do anything special for Christmas?
Dave: I like to cook. Growing up, my grandmother and my dad – they were the cooks in the family, and I guess it wore off on me. I make my grandmother’s sugar cookies. We make peanut butter cookies and all kinds of sweets. As far as cooking goes, I like preparing a turkey. Usually, people reserve that for only Thanksgiving, but I like to extend that. I don’t think it should just be for Thanksgiving. I feel like turkey could be something to be had all throughout the year; I love it.
I think a lot of it is just about being together, and a couple of my kids – Sylvie and Charlotte – they really like to help with the cooking. I think the act of making a whole bunch of cookies or making chocolate-covered pretzels or any other candy is something that the kids love to get involved with. It’s cold outside, and it’s just more family time together, so much more than just the act of cooking something. You’re not just cooking dinner to say ‘Alright, let’s get through dinner and get this done,’ it’s time you share with them.
AY: Jenny, do you like to cook around Christmas time too?
Yeah! I love to cook. I don’t like to bake, but I do love to cook. I usually try to bring in my family’s recipes because we’re not with my family in Florida. We usually bring in my mom’s sweet potato casserole. We do a big traditional meal on Christmas Eve, and then on Christmas Day, we typically do soups. Everybody makes a soup and brings it to Dave’s brother’s house, and we have a bunch of soups and bread and just mix it up that way.
AY: From hilarious inflatable Halloween costumes to funny practical jokes on each other, you seem to enjoy being silly and laughing at yourselves. Are there any funny Christmas stories or mishaps that you remember from previous years?
Jenny: I would say the one thing that comes to mind is the time that Santa put the kids’ trampoline together. So, the kids got a trampoline one year when they were little, and because it was cold outside, Santa put it together in the barn, but didn’t think about how it would get outside of the barn. It ended up staying in, and actually ended up working out because since it was inside the barn the whole winter season, they got to jump indoors. It did have to be taken apart and put back together outside when spring came. The Marrs children enjoy opening Christmas gifts every year.
Dave: That was... yeah, that wasn’t one of my smarter ideas. Another memory is: I grew up in Colorado, and I was always used to a lot of snow. In Arkansas, it gets cold, but we don’t get a ton of snow. So about six years ago or so, I actually bought a snow machine – a commercial snow machine – so we can have white Christmases. It has to be below freezing for it to work, but we’ve actually done it with the kids, where it’s just dead and brown everywhere, and then there’s 3 feet of snow in only our front yard. We’ll usually, at that time, try to put a car in front of the machine so we can put a bunch of snow on top of the car and drive around with it. People wonder where we just came from. I like to have fun with it when we can.
AY: Any final thoughts?
Dave: I just think it’s so important to have those Christmas traditions. It doesn’t matter what it is, but doing something consistent for your kids every year builds those memories. Jenny and I – we were very blessed by our parents that we got that when we were younger. So, the boys may complain about it now, but I know – because I used to – I know that it will become one of their best memories when they’re older. I hope it will be one of their favorite memories when they have their
The Marrs family shares their recipe for banana blueberry bread. Dave shared fond memories of cooking with his dad and grandma.
own family. So, I just love that you brought up traditions because I think that’s one of the great things about Christmas.
Jenny: Yeah, and the tradition of getting our Christmas tree – it’s always a big deal when we get a Christmas tree together as a family. That’s always a fun outing. Then, we decorate it together. I used to try to make the tree really pretty, and I cared about that. And now, I really don’t care. I just want it to be a fun time that we spend together. I let the kids decorate it, and we have all of these ornaments that are super meaningful. We usually pick up ornaments when we travel. It’s one of the things that we try to collect. It’s fun to take all the ornaments out and look through them and remember where we got each one, and wherever it was, we reflect on that trip, which is really nice. It’s fun, and it’s something that the kids love to do. Every year, they get to take turns putting the star on so it’s fair, but yeah, I think that it’s exactly like Dave said. It’s just about those consistent traditions that are just really special. They can be super big or super small. It doesn’t really matter, it’s just about that consistency behind it.
Dave and Jenny Marrs, the stars of “Fixer to Fabulous,” first appeared on television in 2019. Their home-building experience, however, goes much further back. The husband-and-wife team started their company, Marrs Developing, in 2004 renovating approximately 30 homes a year. Based in Bentonville, the duo is best known for the love they have for their hometown and their passion for showcasing the beauty of Northwest Arkansas. Fans of the show know Dave can build almost anything (from patio furniture to hidden wine rooms) and Jenny has a talent for making any house, no matter the style, comfortable and cozy.
The Marrs family includes five children, dogs, sheep, chickens and a donkey.
“Fixer to Fabulous” just kicked off its fourth season. You can catch the hit home-remodeling show Tuesday at 8pm on HGTV.
AY: It’s ironic that two people who are on a TV show about home design just let the Christmas tree be whatever it’s going to be. You let the kids decorate and just roll with it.
Jenny: That’s right because what happens is if you get too caught up in the perfection of it, then it becomes stressful, and it takes away the meaning of it.
Dave: I think what Jenny does with the show is to say that at the end of the day, it’s your house; it’s your Christmas tree. Let it be a reflection of you and your family. Really, the only people who have to like it are the ones living in the home.
